Bait
by Aline Riva
Summary: Set 20 years after Home Alone 2. Harry and Marv are living very comfortably thanks to Harry's now wealthy lifestyle. Then Harry spots Kevin on a chat site and sets up a plan for revenge - to use his lover Marv to leave Kevin heartbroken..SLASH. Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Bait**

* * *

**Summary:**

***** This is a Slash drama that has a very different take on a possible future relationship between Kevin and the Wet Bandits*****

**Twenty years after Harry and Marv were arrested in New York thanks to Kevin McCallister's traps and tricks, Harry and Marv are now free men – and living a lifestyle far removed from the old days, because Harry is now a very wealthy man. Then one day whilst surfing the net, Harry discovers someone online who is now grown up and on a gay chat site looking for love..._that man is Kevin McCallister._**

**Seeing an opportunity to devise a little trap of his own, Harry tells his submissive and eager to please (but not too bright) partner Marv Merchants to befriend Kevin, to get to know him... with the ultimate plan to give Kevin some payback for the pain he caused them years ago, by giving him some pain of their own making - by using Marv to break Kevin's heart...**

**But will Harry's plan succeed – or will Marv develop a guilty conscience, and cause Harry's plan to badly backfire?**

* * *

**Pairings – Harry/ Kevin, Harry/Marv, Kevin/Marv**

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**Rating: Rated M.  
**

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**Warnings: SLASH. Also some strong language and coarse humor and references to alternative (S&M) lifestyle.  
**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing; this is a work of fan fiction.**

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Chapter 1

The bar was half empty because it was late and it was a rainy night and the weather was growing colder by the minute.

No one looked around as a tall guy with greying curly hair and sky blue eyes walked into the bar, shivering even though his thick winter jacket was zipped up and he had fingerless gloves on; Marv was freezing cold.

He knew where Harry was right away; he didn't _need_ to look for him, he just stood by the doorway and listened for the loudest voice in the room:

"_Hey bartender, give me another beer!"_ Harry yelled from across the room.

Marv looked up and saw him at the end of the bar, his pale silk shirt was stained with what he suspected was vodka and coke and his eyes were glazed as he leaned on the bar with one hand to steady himself up.

He climbed awkwardly back onto a barstool and leaned over the bar.

"_Hey!"_ He said_, "Gimme another beer!_ And while you're at it, gimme another virgin – _this one just split!"_

As he spoke he clung to the bar with one hand, leaned back and slapped the ass of an unsuspecting young guy who happened to be standing next to him.

The guy discreetly stepped away, putting himself at a distance from Harry, who was still laughing at his own crude remark.

Marv gave a sigh_: Harry was drunk tonight..._

"Come on Harry, time to go home." He said in a weary voice as he walked over to him.

Harry's face lit up in a big smile that made his glazed eyes sparkle as much as his gold tooth as it caught the light.

"Marv's here!" He said loudly, "That guy can't get enough of me - _he wants it so bad he wears his jeans back to front to save time!_"

Then he laughed out loud, and Marv did not as he carefully steered him away from the bar and towards the door.

"I'm still drinking, Marv." He said as he looked up at him.

Marv gave a sigh.

"You're drunk, Harry. Why do you get so drunk?"

Harry thought about it; he thought about the business he'd invested some cash in with a close friend ten years back. When the guy had died in a car accident, he'd got the lot – and sold it on for several million dollars.

"Why do I drink? Because I can _afford_ to!"

Marv slid his arm around his waist and steered Harry out of the bar and into the cold fresh air.

"Okay" Harry said, "I get it...you want me, you're lonely at home without me...I'll come home...let's go –"

He drunkenly lurched forward, but Marv pulled him back. "Where's your jacket?"

Harry looked up at him blankly.

"Your jacket, the _other_ half of your expensive suit?"

"It's in the bar –"

"I'll get it."

Marv left him standing outside, went back in and grabbed his jacket, checked for his keys and cell phone and then took it outside.

"Could you just hold onto it for a minute?" He asked him, standing facing the wall with his back turned to Marv.

Harry chuckled.

"I got my hands full!"

Marv stared at him as Harry drunkenly stood by the entrance to the bar peeing up against the wall.

"Hurry up Harry, if the cops see you do that...oh _no, _ you got your shoes wet!"

Harry pulled up his zip and barely noticed Marv's comment. He grabbed his jacket and looked around.

"Where's the car?"

Then his eyes narrowed and his voice darkened reminding Marv of the Wet Bandit he used to be.

"_Did some bastard steal my car?"_

"You can't remember where you left it, can you?"

Marv scanned the parking lot and then his eyes lit up on seeing Harry's bright yellow Ferrari sports car.

"It's over there, Harry!" He exclaimed, and they began to walk towards the car.

"Are you cold?" Marv asked him as they reached the car and he unlocked it.

"No." Harry replied, "I didn't need my coat – I went from the car to the bar."

"_Harry."_

He had been about to get in the driver's seat but Marv was holding the keys firmly and by the look in his eyes he guessed he wouldn't get them off him without a fight; he knew what Marv was like about him drinking and driving.

"Get in the _other_ side." Marv told him, "_I'm_ driving tonight."

Harry looked up at him, then he reached up, putting his hands on his shoulders.

Marv leaned down towards him and Harry gently kissed him.

"Thanks." He said, "You are right, I know you are. I might have an accident."

"Or you might get busted by the cops!" Marv reminded him, "And I don't want that to happen. I couldn't handle losing you to a few more years in jail, not after all these years."

They were in the car now.

Harry settled back in the seat and felt drowsy as he began to relax.

"When I get home," He promised his lover, "I'll be the one givin' the orders... I'll keep you up all night long, have you got that, Marv?"

Marv started the engine and smiled. They had enjoyed a life that had been more or less blissful since Harry came into the money; if all he could complain about was his occasional drinking binges he guessed it couldn't be all bad...

"I bet you will too." Marv said as he started the car and headed out of the parking lot, "I know you're _always_ on top...I _love _it that way...

Then he turned onto the road and started to head for home.

"I'm glad you're not mad at me for coming to get you." Marv said as they drove along, "You're not mad, are you Harry?"

He got no reply.

Marv glanced at Harry and then he smiled; Harry had already passed out from the booze, he was sleeping in the passenger seat and snoring softly.

* * *

Half an hour later, after waking Harry up, Marv put his arm around him, helped him into the luxury apartment block where they lived on the top floor, and steered him over to the elevator.

Harry was still half asleep as the elevator began to climb.

"You okay?" Marv said, glancing at him and noticing Harry didn't look too good.

"I think I need to throw up in a minute." He said in a slightly slurred voice. Then he shivered.

"Why the _fuck_ didn't I put a coat on tonight, Marv? It's freezing out there!"

"I tried to tell you that." Marv replied, catching hold of him as he drew in a sharp breath and stumbled forward.

The elevator came to a smooth stop and the doors opened.

He led Harry across a wide carpeted hall and over to the door of their apartment.

"Let's get you to bed." He said fondly as he unlocked the door.

They went inside and Marv closed the door again.

Then he gave a sigh of relief as warmth seemed to wrap itself around him.

He took off his winter coat and hung it up, then he kicked off his shoes and instantly relaxed here at home, in their beautiful home with soft, deep carpets and leopard print wall paper that covered the hall. There was more of it in the bedroom, half the wall was dark yellow; the other half was leopard print- Harry _loved_ animal patterns. The front room was filled with comfortable leather sofas with zebra print cushions on them and there was a huge zebra patterned rug that took up most of the floor space. And china; he couldn't get enough of it. A china panther sat by the huge windows that looked out over the city, a tiger was stood guard by the bedroom doors, too...

Harry certainly had developed his own unique flair for decor since he'd come into money. It reflected in his wardrobe too, he had dark expensive suits and often matched them with bright silk shirts of every color.

Harry leaned against the wall for a moment and then straightened himself up.

"Want me to help you to bed?" Marv offered.

Harry shook his head.

"By the time you get in bed with me, _you'll_ be the one needing help, Marv! You'll be screaming when I'm all over ya!"

And then he chuckled, lurched through the bedroom door, just about made it across the pale carpet and half fell as he stumbled onto the bed, rolling as he hit the mattress.

Harry stretched out settling in the middle of the bed, on his front with his head turned to one side and his arms and legs stretched out like a star fish.

He was snoring already.

Marv looked at him again and guessed he would be better off in the spare room tonight because Harry had taken over the bed and there was absolutely _no way_ he was going to wake him up when he'd been drinking this much – he knew how mad he'd get over it...

_"Goodnight, Harry."_ He said softly, and then he watched him sleeping for a moment, then quietly left the room, leaving him alone to sleep off the booze.

Marv walked down the hall and went into the spare room.

He closed the door and put on the light, feeling sad and lonely without Harry.

But then he remembered what Harry had done with this room and as he looked around he smiled; Harry had filled it with all the kinds of cool stuff he knew he had never had when he was a kid; it was full of everything from toys to computer games.

Marv sat down at a perfect replica of a countryside train station and his eyes lit up as he began to play with his train set.

* * *

It was late the next morning when the former Wet Bandits both woke up; Harry was still groggy from last night's booze and Marv had finally managed to crawl into bed around three a.m. after Harry had finally turned over and slept in a better position; the two of them shared a soft, king sized bed that was draped with a lace canopy but even in a king size bed there simply wasn't enough room for Marv when Harry slept at weird angles because he was drunk.

As the alarm went off Marv yawned and stretched and then settled down again with his head on Harry's shoulder.

"This is great, isn't it?" He said as he looked around their bedroom, "This is the life we always dreamed of...I'm so happy we got there in the end, Harry. I'm so glad you and me live like this."

Harry dragged open weary eyes and looked at Marv.

He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled as his grip became tighter on Marv's curls.

_"Down ya go..." _He said playfully, pushing him lower as he slid the covers off his body.

"But Harry I need to go to the bathroom!"

Harry ignored him as he quickly took off his own underwear and tossed it onto the floor where the rest of his clothes had been discarded somewhere between falling asleep drunk, walking up in the night and going back to sleep again.

"You don't do nothin' till you've made me happy, don't you forget that, Marvin."

"_I know..."_

And Harry gave his hair a tug and made him look up at him.

"_Rules are rules, slave!" _He said playfully.

Marv's face flushed red as he thought about how they often played out their master and slave games in the bedroom.

_Then he thought of nothing but the way Harry gave a sigh of satisfaction and he kissed slowly down his body, as he thought about giving Harry pleasure, wanting to do nothing more than serve him..._

Since they'd come into money, Harry had often played games with him. They'd really indulged in their fantasies...

As the memories played through his mind Marv carried on giving him slow, intimate kisses and as he caressed him he heard him give a sigh and then he felt excited too, thinking about the gold rings he now wore in his nipples. He hadn't _wanted_ to get pierced, but Harry had told him, _ordered_ him to do it...he had been terrified, he had screamed for both piercings- but like Harry had pointed out afterwards, with a smile on his face and his hand down Marv's pants, he'd certainly got excited over it...

Marv's hand reached up and he toyed with one of his own nipple rings as he stayed down on him.

As his lover gave a sharp gasp of breath and griipped his hair tighter, Marv didn't let go of him until Harry was weak and the last wave of pleasure had washed through his body.

"Come here, Marv." He said in a lazy voice.

Harry put his arms around him and kissed him.

And Marv pulled back from him at once.

"You smell like last nights booze!"

Harry got up, sitting on the edge of the bed as the room span slightly.

"Sorry about that sweet heart." He said, still feeling slightly drunk.

"I'll grab a shower. I don't want breakfast yet but I _do_ want coffee."

"Okay." Marv replied, feeling that thrill that he couldn't _quite_ understand that he got every time Harry gave him an order - and he got the instant urge to obey him...

Marv got up and put on a fluffy white bathrobe.

Harry was still sitting on the bed and Marv's eyes clouded with concern.

"Are you okay? Maybe you should go back to sleep, you were _very _drunk last night."

Harry blinked a couple of times and looked back at Marv.

"No, I'm just aching all over again...I'll be okay."

And he got up slowly and stiffly, leaning on the bedside table for support, then leaning on Marv as he finally stood up and rubbed his stiff back.

He thought about it and then looked up at his tall, curly haired lover who was looking back at him with such concern in his eyes.

"I wasn't prancing around the bar, was I? You know how I start dancin' sometimes..."

Marv smiled and shook his head.

"No Harry – but you were loud! And you need to get some new jokes. You've been asking the bartender to get you another virgin because the other split for a _lot_ of years!"

Then his smile faded.

"_And_ you said I want it so bad I wear my jeans back to front to save time!"

Harry laughed.

Then he shook his head.

"Sorry, honey. I _know_ I can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Did I fall over?"

"No." Marv assured him, "I wouldn't let that happen to you! That's why I fetched you home."

"Thanks." Harry said quietly.

He wasn't sure if it was the booze wearing off or just the way he ached this morning, but as he rubbed his sore back his eyes darkened as he looked at Marv and he remembered someone he hadn't thought about for a long time.

"I wasn't dancing, I didn't fall over so it must be the old war wounds hurting again...the old fractures I got from that little bundle of misery and his nasty fuckin' pranks!"

Then he winced as his back ached harder and he quickly sat down again.

Marv sat beside him, placing his hand on his lower back and gently massaging right where he knew the pain was coming from. Marv knew every spot on Harry's body that gave him pain these days; every place where he had cracked bones, not only from the traps at Lincoln Boulevard but from the worst traps, the ones the kid had set in New York...

Marv was still rubbing Harry's back. He blinked to stop his eyes blurring as he saw the scar on Harry's hip, the scar from his hip replacement surgery a year ago.

"Is your hip okay?" He wondered.

"That's okay." He replied, "At least," He added as bitterness crept into his voice, "It is now I have a new one... my old one was screwed from the second I slipped on those iced up steps all those years ago. It never did heal right – _I can't believe what that kid did to me!_"

Marv saw anger in his eyes and ached in his heart as he recalled the pain Harry had gone through.

"I'm so glad you're okay now. I was so worried about you."

"Don't worry." Harry said, leaning on Marv as he got up again.

His back throbbed but he hid the pain, not wanting to upset Marv or cause him any more worry.

"I still think of him." Harry said as Marv helped him walk through to the bathroom, "Every time I ache. Every time my arthritis hurts me. _I still hate that kid!_"

Then Harry got into the shower and switched on the water.

Marv went back through to the bedroom and fetched a lilac silken robe – Harry's favourite – and hung it up on the bathroom door so Harry could put it on when he got out of the shower.

"Is the water helping?" He wondered.

Harry leaned back against the tiled wall and closed his eyes as the hot water warmed away his aches and pains.

"Yeah, it's helping a lot."

"I'll get your coffee." Marv said.

Then he left the room and headed for the kitchen, still thinking about Harry's aches and pains and the more he thought about it, the more he remembered – _and_ felt angered – by that kid called McCallister and everything he had done to hurt both of them, but most of all, what Kevin McCallister had done to hurt Harry, _his_ Harry, the guy he loved so very much...

* * *

Later, while Harry went back to bed to sleep off his hangover, Marv idled the day away in the front room, sat on a big white leather couch and still in his bathrobe while he used his laptop.

He glanced over at the closed door and guessed Harry would sleep for most of the day, then with a sneaky smile on his face he went to a gay chat site, one that he was only supposed to used when Harry was present – the one where his profile named him as _SlaveM_, had a picture of his naked upper body, showing him with a studded collar around his neck and the caption beside it read: _'I am owned by Master Harry...'_

Marv played by Harry's rules most of the time. He didn't like to go against any of the rules because he loved being owned, he loved being slave and pleasure giver to the man he idolized...

_But Harry was hungover and Marv wanted to have some harmless fun. _

_He wasn't looking to pick anyone up, just to look around at some pictures, maybe exchange a few emails..._

Marv went to the search options and thought about his preferences: But it was so much to read and he wasn't that great and reading, or writing, or typing. When he went online at these kinds of places Harry was usually right next to him, Harry did all the talking and then when he got excited, Marv was too busy making him feel good to notice what was happening online... Marv didn't go online by himself very often, not to go to these kinds of places...

He thought about his options and then shrugged.

"I don't know," He murmured, "_Anyone_, I guess!"

And he hit the age range options, setting 30 - 60.

As the pictures of other members came up he sighed: he was just fooling around, killing time. The one man he really wanted was sleeping off a hangover in bed and none of the guys he saw on the list remotely attracted him.

Marv clicked on the second page.

He gave another sigh.

"_I might go play with my trains..."_ He murmured.

Then Marv's eyes widened and he sat up sharply, grabbing the laptop just in time as it almost slipped to the floor.

He looked closer at the picture of the fair haired guy aged thirty one who stood half in shadow with his shirt open.

_It couldn't be..._

Marv kept on looking at the picture.

Then he read the profile.

"_My name's Kevin. I'm thirty one. I'm from Chicago and I work in IT. I'm not here for fun; I'm here just in case this site is maybe different or better than others I've tried (probably not)._

_I'm looking for a guy who wants to take things slow, get to know me, and maybe, if I like him to, maybe we'll meet._

_Will I jump into bed with the first guy who sends me an offer along with his private parts as a profile pic? I don't think so! _

_So that's all from me. If you're interested PM me or hit the chat button..."_

Marv stared at the picture again. He could see his face, he was sure now...

"_McCallister?"_ He whispered as he stared at the screen.

Marv kept on staring at the grown up image of Kevin McCallister.

"It _IS_ him." He stated, still looking at the picture.

Then he looked back towards the door.

"_HARRY!"_ He yelled urgently.

* * *

Moments later Harry was sat next to him on the sofa wearing his silken lilac robe.

He cast a doubtful glance at Marv and snatched the laptop from him.

"I don't believe this, Marv! I spend half the day in bed and you go on a chat site to look at pictures of _other_ guys? No wonder you think you saw McCallister, you got nervous, you got worried. You felt _guilty _for doing it behind my back –"

Harry stopped right there as his dark eyes grew wider and his jaw dropped.

He carried on staring at the picture.

"I _told _you it was him!" Marv was saying, but Harry barely heard him; he was still staring at the image of the guy he hadn't seen for years – he hadn't seen him since he was a kid, since the night he'd given them both hell with his vicious traps...

Harry's eyes darkened as he felt a spike of rage.

"You're right Marv." He said in a low voice as he continued to look at the picture, "It is him. It _IS_ that little bundle of misery, all grown up..."

And then Harry fell silent as he carried on looking at his image.

Suddenly a slow smile spread across his face and his gold tooth sparkled as he chuckled darkly.

_"All grown up..."_ He said again, and his eyes sparkled with a dangerous yet playful expression that Marv didn't get.

"What?" He wondered, "You look like you've got a plan, what is it?"

Harry was still amused at the thought that had just hit him.

"McCallister's gay." He stated, "So are we. Do you get where I'm going with this?"

Marv thought for second or two and then smiled.

"Oh yeah I get it, he's got more pictures - let's look at' em, we can look his naughty pics - he'll _never_ know!"

Harry's smile faded and he gave a weary sigh.

"No Marv, I was thinking about something _else_. Think back to all the mean tricks he played on us. Remember everything he put us through?"

Marv nodded, feeling uncomfortable as every painful thing McCallister had ever done to him rushed through his mind like a nightmare played at fast forward, but nothing, _nothing_ made him shiver more than the memory of that spider on his face...

"I can't exactly forget." He replied, giving a shudder.

Harry looked at him.

"So _think_ about it, Marv! It's not difficult! Can't you see where I'm going with this? We have an opportunity to give that bastard some payback."

Marv thought some more.

"So you mean like meet up with him and get our own back?"

As he said that his blue eyes lit up with a wicked sparkle and Harry laughed again.

"Exactly!" He exclaimed, "We'll set him up."

"Yeah!" Marv said excitedly, "With firecrackers!"

Harry's smile vanished.

"_Firecrackers?"_ He said in disbelief, "You think we should let off firecrackers and make him jump? Is that _all?_"

Marv frowned as he tried to think even harder.

"Well...we could...um... maybe get him to slip in some ice, or on..."

He paused. Harry was glaring at him.

"Toy cars?" Marv said nervously.

Harry's face darkened with the kind of anger he hadn't seen since they were known as the Wet Bandits.

"_Firecrackers? Toy cars?"_

Harry gave his arm a rough slap.

"Don't be stupid, Marv! I know you're stupid, but just don't _say_ stupid things, you know it makes me mad!"

Marv fell silent for a moment, feeling hurt buy the sharpness of Harry's tone.

"So...what's the plan?" He said quietly, "Because I don't get it."

Harry gave a weary sigh as he looked at the picture on the screen.

"You really don't get it, do you Marv?"

And Marv shook his head, looking back at him with his usual vacant expression.

Harry spelled it out to him:

"He's looking for a relationship. So we let him _think_ he's got what he wants. _Then we break his heart_."

Marv started to laugh.

"I get it now!"

Then his smile faded and he frowned.

"That's a bit mean..."

"No it's_ not_, Marv! He got us sent to jail, it's _his_ fault I've got arthritis, it's _his_ fault I had to have my hip replaced!"

Then anger started to burn in Marv's eyes.

"You're right!" He stated, "I'll never forget what he's put you through, Harry."

And Harry felt a sense of satisfaction creeping over him as he saw the look in Marv's eyes – he had his attention now and that was what he needed, because this plan wouldn't work without him...

"Are you ready to listen?" Harry asked him.

Marv nodded.

"Okay," Harry said, "This is the plan – I go online and pretend to be you-"

"Why me?"

Harry briefly closed his eyes as he pushed away the anger that was threatening to spill over.

_"Shut up and listen, Marv." _

Marv recognised the tension in his voice at once. Harry snapped his eyes open and Marv nodded.

"I'm listening..."

Harry started to explain again.

"You can't talk to him online because you can't spell, you can't type fast enough to keep up and you won't be able to read all of his replies properly. And I know what I'm doing, so just _listen._.. "

Now Marv was silent, he was paying careful attention to everything Harry told him.

"I'm going to pretend to be you." Harry explained, "I'll make out like _I'm _you, I'm unhappy with _nasty_ Harry Lyme and I get _so_ lonely. I'll tell him I'm really sorry about everything that happened years ago. I'll gain his trust. That could take a while, but once I'm there, I'll invite him over here to the apartment."

And he paused.

Marv looked at him nervously.

"But then he'll know it wasn't me."

Harry chuckled.

"No Marv – he's gonna meet you. And I want you to pretend to really like him a lot. Act like you're sad and lonely and let Kevin start feeling sympathy for you. Make a move on him, kiss him, hug him –"

_"Sleep wth him?"_ Marv said hopefully.

A flash of anger sparked in Harry's eyes.

"No Marv, this _ain't_ like the time I bought home that guy I knew from years ago and shared you with him! This is_ not_ for fun. This is for _revenge_, have you got that?"

Marv nodded again.

"And when he's got these feelings for you that he's so desperate to have with someone,_ that's_ when you can take things a step further. But you'll do it slowly. I'll tell you what to do. But just when he's falling in love with you, you're going to dump him. Then he'll get to speak to _me_ and find out who was behind this."

Marv thought about the traps and the pain he'd once caused, he remembered it was Kevin's fault they'd both gone to jail.

Then a malicious little sparkle lit up his eyes and he smiled.

"I like it, Harry! Let's do it!"

Harry smiled again.

"Good boy, Marv! I knew you'd understand...now let's see...is he online..."

Harry looked at the profile and gave a sigh.

"He's not there. But I'll message him any way."

Marv watched as Harry clicked the option to message him, using his ID as _SlaveM._

Harry looked at the blank space for a moment, and then began to type:

'_Hello, I hope its okay for me to message you but I remember you from many years ago. You won't believe this but it's me, it's Marv. I was one of the Wet Bandits. I feel so bad about how much me and Harry must have scared you when you was a kid. I guess when I saw your picture all I wanted to do was message you and say sorry. You were right to get us sent to jail, but it wasn't my fault, it was Harry. I've changed a lot but he's still mean to me. I can understand too that you're looking for someone special. I hope you find him and I hope you get lots of happiness – I wanted that once but all I got was Harry. Anyway, I'm sorry if I'm the last person you wanted or expected to hear from. See ya, love Marv...'_

Then Harry sent the message.

"That was clever!" Marv exclaimed, "How did you pretend to be me like that?"

Harry shook his head and looked at Marv.

"It's the internet, Marv! _Anyone_ can do it; anyone can hide behind a false profile!"

"I never thought of that before!" Marv said in surprise, "Wow, I hope other people don't get that idea – can you imagine that? Social networking sites would be _full_ of false profiles!"

"_They are!"_ Harry told him.

Marv's eyes widened.

"_Really?"_

Harry just shook his head again; sometimes Marv's ignorance left him too weary to explain further.

Then Marv wondered about the message Harry had just sent.

"What do we do now?" He asked him.

Harry sat back comfortably on the chair and folded his arms, keeping his eyes fixed to the screen.

"We wait," He told him, "Because there's no way he won't answer _that_ message..."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kevin McCallister had arrived home from work slightly late that evening due to traffic, he'd thanked his Mom for warming up some dinner, ate in front of the TV while he chatted to his Dad about his day and then he had gone upstairs to take a shower and crash out for the night.

He didn't go online until he was on his bed, relaxing and everything else he needed to do was done and out of the way; this was the time he set aside for the virtual world...

He checked his emails and visited a couple of his usual favourite places, and then he went over to the site he'd recently joined and wondered if he had any messages.

He had been in a couple of relationships that he considered significant, but he had been on his own for a while and after getting to like being on his own, he had, after a while, started to feel lonely. No one at work caught his eye, he wasn't into the club scene and most of his friends both gay and straight were settled down by now. It was strange how friendships changed once they did that; the nights out and the get togethers slowed down until their social lives changed shape and drifted into the state of togetherness and companionship that Kevin had started to feel was missing from his own life.

He wanted to meet the right person and settle down and be happy - he had a good job, money in the bank and he was still living at home- he was the only one left at home now, but he liked being there and was in no hurry to leave. It was such a big house and he knew his parents would both miss him when the last of their kids flew the nest.

So life was going okay - _apart from the fact that he still hadn't met the right guy..._

That was what he was hoping to change – but he had his doubts as he signed in and noticed he had a new message. He'd dated guys he'd met online before and both times it had been disappointing, with nothing between them in the flesh that he would consider a spark.

Kevin opened the message, smiling and shaking his head as he noticed it was from some guy with nipple rings and a collar around his neck who called himself _SlaveM..._

_"Kinky stuff?" _He murmured, knowing that was not his scene_, "I don't think so..."_

Then he started to read.

As he took in what the message said he stared hard at the screen, then he looked at the picture of the send

"_Marv?"_ He said in disbelief, _"The Wet Bandits? No way..."_

But he read the message again, and then he thought about it:

_He had never told anyone about his encounters with those two guys all those years ago. _

_Kevin had kept quiet about it all because he didn't want his mom upset, he didn't want to scare her, to make her even more over protective._

_If she'd found out about everything he had got up to, his childhood would have been spent locked in the house, she never would have let him out of her sight again..._

_No one knew._

_And if no one knew but him and the Wet Bandits, that meant only one thing..._

"It really _is_ him..." He murmured, clicking on the link to his profile.

Then Kevin started to read.

"He's _owned_ by _Master_ Harry?" He said, his eyes growing wider as he thought back to the mean Wet Bandit he recalled from so long ago.

_Those guys were a couple? They were into S and M?_

"It sure is a strange world..."He said in a low voice, "I _never_ would have imagined it..."

He read Marv's profile, which came as a total surprise too:

"_I'm Slave M, owned by Master Harry. I'm not here to fool around but my Master likes to take pictures and put them online because he's proud of all the things he does to me, because I like pain and I like to be owned..."_

Then Kevin's eyes grew even wider as he read the list of Marv's preferences:

_"S and M, being dominated... Worshipping Master Harry?"_

And Kevin shook his head as he thought about how unhappy Marv had sounded in his email.

"Oh shit," He whispered, "What the hell has Harry got you into, Marv?"

As he said those words Kevin thought back to the days when he last saw the Wet Bandits – when he was a kid, he hadn't seen past the fact that they were just the _Bad Guys_, but he was long since grown up and saw things very differently now...

_Marv had been the dumber of the two._

_Marv was the vulnerable one..._

He hoped he wasn't too vulnerable that he was letting Harry hurt him, maybe he wasn't really into this kind of stuff, maybe he was just going along with it because he couldn't break away from him, he couldn't cope all on his own and he was willing to be with Harry no matter _how_ bad the guy treated him...

Then he followed the link to Marv's pictures and took a look.

He was disappointed to find that he couldn't see a picture of his face. He could see the rest of him and it crossed his mind that Marv was in great shape for an older guy – but he couldn't see above the studded collar he wore around his neck because the person taking the pictures had carefully cropped them so that his face wasn't seen at all.

There was another guy in a couple of the pictures, he saw his hands on Marv's shoulders and he was in another shot, giving a painful twist to his piercings, but he couldn't see his face either. And he was sure those hands were not Marv's - _because Marv's hands were clearly cuffed in front of him in both shots..._

He looked at the picture again and wondered about it: The other guy in the pictures _had_ to be Harry...

Then he went back and read the message again.

Kevin read the message several times, and then he gave a sigh: _This was a tough choice..._

Then after thinking about it, he hit the reply button.

But as he did it, Kevin gave another sigh as he thought about the past, thought about all Marv had said and then wondered exactly what he _could _say in response...

* * *

Harry blinked and grabbed the laptop, giving Marv a shove as he settled down and fixed his eyes on the screen.

"Move over!" He said impatiently, "Give me some space."

Marv shifted over a little and glanced at the screen.

"He's online!" He exclaimed.

Harry smiled and his gold tooth glittered.

"I know, sweetheart. Now I think it's time I became you and started to chat..."

And he chuckled and gave his fingers a playful wiggle and set them down on the keyboard like a pianist about to play a tune.

"Let me see..." He said, thinking about it.

Then he began to type:

'_Hi Kevin – talk to me, let's just talk...'_

Then he deleted it.

"No...I'm _you_, I'm kind of dumb...I'll sound a bit upset, too."

Marv watched as Harry stared to type.

As he typed he chuckled and then typed some more, picking up speed as he went along:

'_Hi Kevin, I know it's been a long time but I really need to talk to you. I feel bad about what happened all those years ago. Please talk to me. I HATE myself for what I did. I'm not a bad guy. But I am sad, I'm sad every day. Harry hurts me. He's mean. I've got no one to talk to and I wish we could be friends or at least you could say you forgive me. Please just say you do please just answer me I've been crying, I feel so guilty –Marv.'_

Harry sent the message.

Then he laughed as he saw Kevin was typing a response.

"Come to poppa, you little shit!" He murmured, waiting for the reply to pop up in the box.

Then the message appeared.

Harry read it silently, and then he laughed again.

"Hey listen to this, Marv – '_Hi Marv, I never expected to hear from you, not on this site! Listen, forget about the past. I don't think you're a bad guy – that was then, that was years ago. When I look back I regret some of the things I did_...' "

Harry broke off from reading.

"_Some _of the things he did?" He exclaimed, "Not _all_ of 'em?"

And then he carried on reading:

'_But I'm not sorry you emailed me. I do wish you well – and if you're not happy you should get out of there, Marv. Don't let Harry hurt you if you're not into it. I've seen the pictures and it looks like he can be quite mean.'_

Harry turned and smiled at Marv.

"We've got him!" He said, then he looked back at the screen again and began to type:

'Harry doesn't know I'm online today. I'm not supposed to be on here unless he's with me. I'd like to talk to you again, I wish we could be friends, make up for what happened years ago.'

Kevin wrote back: 'It's okay, Marv. Don't worry about the past. Are you _sure_ you're okay?'

'I'm so alone,' Harry replied, 'Can we be friends? I promise I'll delete all your messages so Harry doesn't find out – I won't mess up, I'm not stupid even if he says I am!'

There was a long pause.

_"Come on..."_ Harry said in a low voice as he kept his eyes on the screen, _"Come on, McCallister, make a move!"_

Then a reply came up: _OK._

"We've got him!" Harry stated again, then he started to type once more:

'_Harry works long hours. I'm alone in the apartment most of the time. Do you think we could meet up? It would be safe, Harry will not be here, it would just be me. I want to give you a hug and say sorry, I really mean it Kevin. That's what I want to do. If you'll let me...'_

The reply came back quickly: 'I don't know. I'm not sure.'

Harry's eyes narrowed as he typed a reply and as Marv read it he stared at the message.

"You just said I want to _kill _myself? Harry, what the hell –"

"I know what I'm doing." He said quickly as he clicked send, "Trust me..."

The reply flashed up at once:

'Marv – I know you're feeling down. _Don't_ do anything stupid. Promise me."

'Like _you _care. No one gives a shit about me!' Harry typed, and then he chuckled.

"We've got him now for sure." He told Marv, feeling immense satisfaction as a message came back fast:

'_Don't do anythng stupid, I said I'll be your friend. I want to help you. And if you want to see me...maybe we can meet up, does it have to be at the apartment?'_

'It's better that way.' Harry typed, 'No one would know it would be our secret and then Harry wouldn't find out, he wouldn't get mad at me...'

There was a pause, then Kevin spoke to him again.

Marv sat beside him for more than two hours as he watched the messages pass between Harry and Kevin...

* * *

Now and then Marv laughed as Harry read aloud while he was typing... he'd told Kevin, _Harry is a rich businessman these days, he works in the city? And he'd said that 'Marv hates being treated roughly'?_

Marv had laughed so hard he almost knocked the coffee off the table.

"I _love _it when you dominate me!" He'd said, and Harry had laughed too - then he'd laughed even harder as he read that Kevin felt _so_ sorry for him...

By the time Harry ended the conversation saying _Harry went out for a couple of beers a while ago, he will be back soon,_ Harry had a smug look on his face as he came off line.

"There you go, Marv," He said, "He's fallen for it, he's worried about you! He wants to stay in touch! He's coming over on Friday morning; he's so worried about you he's taking the day off work!"

And suddenly Marv's smile faded.

"So what do I do?" He wondered, feeling unsure of himself.

"It's not Friday yet." Harry reminded him, "Just sit with me every night and watch what I say. Remember it all and then you can pretend it's true. You just have to get him to like you, to feel like he cares about you - can you do that for me, Marv?"

And Marv looked into Harry's big brown eyes as he gave him a cute smile that made his heart melt.

"Sure I can." He promised him.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Harry replied, "Thank you Marvin, thank you so much. This means the world to me, sweet heart."

And then he leaned closer, sealing their deal with a kiss.

* * *

_The days passed quickly for Kevin._

His first reaction on hearing from Marv had been shock mixed with surprise, then after their first conversation that had lasted a couple of hours; he had spent a sleepless night wondering what he ought to do.

Many thoughts had gone through his mind between darkness and dawn:

_Should he meet up with him? Could he trust him?_

Then he'd recalled how lonely and unhappy Marv had sounded, and most importantly, recalled how remorseful he had been over the past.

Then he had made up his mind on one thing that stood clear:

_He didn't have to go and meet him, but the choice was there_.

But no matter how much doubt he had at the back of his mind, he still went online each night and carried on talking to Marv. And the more he talked to him, the more curious he became about his situation and that curiosity was mixed with concern that he couldn't shake off.

The day before he was due to meet up with him, work had seemed almost impossible as his thoughts kept drifting back to what he was about to do:

_It wasn't every day he got asked to meet up with one of the Wet Bandits again..._

Kevin thought about it, then he thought about it some more, then he decided if he was going to call in sick tomorrow, he might as well make out he didn't feel too good and leave work early today – and go over to the address Marv had given him and hang around, see if he could find out if he was telling him the truth...

_It was late in the afternoon when Kevin pulled up outside the luxury apartment block._

As he looked up at the tall, expensive building he stared at it, thinking about the two guys he remembered so long ago who had nothing, who were reduced to stealing other people's property to get by.

"They live here?" He wondered aloud, and then he found a parking space and parked his car, then he sat there in the parked car just watching the entrance, wondering if he might catch a glimpse of Harry and Marv...

* * *

_Harry Lyme was in a bad mood. _

His day had started off just great, he'd planned to go out and get a gift for Marv, just because he was_ like_ that, because he wanted to surprise him, because he loved to see his big blue eyes light up the way they did when ever he gave him a gift.

When he had told Marv he was going out on his own and Marv had to wait at home because it was a surprise, Marv had got all excited like a big puppy and hugged him too hard and too fast and Harry's cell phone had fallen from his pocket and bounced off the corner of the sofa and landed on the carpet. The screen had flickered and then the phone had gone dark. Harry had shook it, cussed at it and smacked it on the sofa again and then smiled as the screen lit up once more.

_But while he was in town, he had tried to send Marv a text message and discovered the space key didn't work properly any more._

He had given a sigh and decided he would have to get a new phone – money was no problem so it was no big deal, but he just couldn't be bothered to go halfway across town right now, he couldn't because he'd just been to the toy store and bought Marv's gift...

_Marv's gift was big._

_Marv's gift was almost as big as Harry..._

He'd struggled to get it out of the door of the toy shop, then he'd awkwardly carried it down the street, barely able to see where he was going.

When he put it in the back of his car, he shoved it in, but it got stuck.

Then he pushed it again, then a guy pulled up behind him and started to get irate because he needed the parking spot.

"Could you just move?" The guy had yelled from his open car window.

Harry gave Marv's gift a final shove and it went into the back of the car, taking up all the space on the back seat.

He turned and glared at the driver.

"It ain't my fault," He snapped, gesturing to the toy that was in the back of his car with its face pushed up against the window, "_Blame the giant panda!"_

Then he'd got into the car and drove off back home, glad he didn't have far to go because he could barely see a thing with the panda blocking most of his rear view of the traffic...

* * *

Kevin McCallister had got out of his car and checked out the front of the building, security was tight here and he knew he wouldn't be able to get in without a key or an invite. So he'd turned to go back to his car – and then the bright yellow sports car had pulled into the parking area.

Kevin had blinked, feeling sure the guy who was driving it couldn't be Harry Lyme...he looked like him, but he looked so..._good?_

Kevin sneaked around to the side of the building and watched from the bushes outside as the guy parked the car, then he got out and opened the passenger side.

"_Come on,"_ He said in a very familiar voice, _"Out ya come!"_

Kevin gave a gasp – it _was_ Harry!

Kevin stared at him, feeling stunned that he had changed so much: He was wearing an expensive suit, highly polished leather shoes with a mirror shine, his hair seemed a lot thicker than he had expected it to be and he looked immaculately groomed.

But he was pulling and pulling on that giant panda that was stuck in the back of his sports car.

_Kevin started to laugh, thinking if that panda suddenly became loose..._

And then it did, it popped out of the car like a cork from a bottle and Harry Lyme was pushed backwards, knocked off his feet and he landed hard on his back, still clutching the panda.

As he lay there muttering a string of curses under his breath, he glared up at the panda on top of him.

And Kevin, still watching from the bushes, put his hand over his mouth to stifle his own laughter.

As Harry struggled to get up, Kevin moved closer to the garage, staying in the shadows, ducking down behind other cars to make sure that Harry didn't spot him.

But Harry was too preoccupied with getting the panda over to one of the elevators.

_Then Kevin thought about it..._

It had been years since he had last tricked the Wet Bandits, but he guessed this ought to be a piece of cake...

As the doors slid open, Harry Lyme could barely see as he clutched the panda that was almost as big as him, it blocked his vision a great deal, too.

The double doors opened and he stepped inside and so did Kevin, then he watched as Harry's hand reached out, blindly groping for the buttons.

"_Fuckin' panda!"_ He said, spitting out fluff from the fabric that was crushed up against him, _"Top floor...top floor!"_

And Kevin ducked out of the elevator, then Harry finally hit the button and as the doors closed Kevin dashed to the other elevator, hit the button and stepped inside.

"Top floor it is..." He said, hitting the right button.

Kevin got out of the elevator moments after Harry had left the other one, he stepped out and cautiously looked down the corridor, then spotted him a short distance away struggling to carry the panda. Kevin discreetly followed, turning away sharply as Harry turned back and the giant panda turned with him.

Then he carried on walking and went around a corner.

Kevin stopped, noticing the door number up ahead..._Harry had gone past his own apartment?_

He got the uneasy feeling that he had worked out someone was following him.

Kevin turned back and headed for the elevator once more.

He hit the button to call it back up and saw a movement out of the corner of his eye.

A discreet glance down the hall confirmed his suspicions:

The head of a large panda was peeking out from behind the corner, while Harry Lyme struggled to see past it.

Kevin got into the elevator and went back inside, hitting the button for the ground floor.

As the elevator began to descend he gave a sigh and ran his fingers through his fair hair, realizing he was breaking out in a slight sweat: _That had been too close, if Harry thought he was hanging around for Marv, there would be trouble for sure..._

He decided to go home and stick to the plan – the plan that so far involved _maybe _meeting up with Marv tomorrow...

* * *

Marv had been waiting all afternoon and wondering what his surprise would be.

When he heard the key turn in the front door he hurried down the hallway with excitement shining in his eyes and a big smile on his face.

Then the door opened and Marv blinked in disbelief as he saw the giant panda that stood there.

"Hi." The panda said.

Marv stared some more, as a look of wonder appeared in his eyes.

"_Hi."_ He said back to the panda as he carried on looking at it in awe.

"What's your name?" The panda asked him.

Marv laughed with delight.

"I'm Marv." He said to it, "Um...What's...what's _your_ name?"

Then Harry stuck his head over the panda's shoulder.

"_Mister big dick!"_ He said, and chuckled.

And then Marv laughed and his face flushed a little.

"Oh Harry! It was _you!_ I _knew _it wasn't _really_ a talking toy come to life..."

And that blush that was spreading through his face grew deeper.

Harry struggled through the door and set the panda down on the floor.

He gave Marv a knowing smile.

"Yes you did, Marv. You thought it could _talk_."

Marv was still blushing and he felt awkward as he nodded his head.

Harry's eyes sparkled.

"That's what I love about ya!" He told him, and he gave him a kiss.

Then he turned back to close the front door but paused, looking left and right.

_He got the oddest feeling he had been followed back there... but no one was about now..._

Harry shook his head, dismissing the thought, and then he closed the door to the apartment once more.

* * *

Next morning Harry was up early even though he had spent half the night on the lap top pretending to be Marv.

He put on his jacket and then his thick coat and checked the time, then he had run his fingers through Marv's hair, fussed over him some more by opening a couple of buttons on his shirt, then played with his hair again.

"Are you sure you know what to do?" Harry asked him, looking deeply into his eyes.

Marv frowned as he recalled the instructions Harry had given him over and over again.

"Yeah, I just want to be his friend, get to know him, I have make out like you're mean to me and I'm lonely."

Harry smiled and his gold tooth sparkled.

"That's right, Marv! It's simple, even _you_ can handle this!"

Then he kissed his cheek and turned to leave.

But then he turned back, fishing his phone from his pocket.

"Listen Marv, I won't call you in case McCallister stays longer than we planned- I _don't_ want him getting suspicious. And don't you call me either because he might hear what you're saying and then he'll know it's a set up! I'll send you a text message. Read it carefully because my space key's broken. Just reply Y for yes or N for no, ok?"

Marv smiled and nodded.

"Sure Harry, that's easy – I can go in the bathroom and do that!"

Harry nodded too.

"You can do this, Marv." He said confidently, then he walked out of the apartment and closed the door.

Marv felt his insides twist tight as he thought about being face to face with Kevin McCallister after all these years, that same guy who had been responsible for the painful traps and for getting them sent to jail twice...

Harry had sounded so sure he could do it...

_"Can I?"_ He said aloud in a scared and doubtful voice as he stood by the wide window and looked out at the world that seemed so small from up here on the top floor; suddenly Marv really _did_ feel all alone...

* * *

Kevin reached the apartment building at ten o'clock.

He parked his car and just sat there, wondering if he really was doing the right thing:

He just wasn't sure, this was happening too fast...

Maybe if he took things slower, took time to get to know Marv before he made a big step like this... that seemed so much better, so much more reassuring that just turning up and walking in there when he couldn't be sure about the whole situation.

He wanted to believe him, he wanted to see him again because he knew for sure life had changed for both of them and they certainly were not the Wet Bandits these days... but they had once been those same guys who had been his enemies back when he was a kid and he wasn't about to forget that.

Part of him felt bad for not believing Marv because the guy sounded genuine and if he was honest with himself, he was starting to care about him, too. He seemed like a nice guy – it wasn't his fault that he was slightly dumb, and it was his own bad luck that he had ever hooked up with a guy like Harry Lyme...

_He wanted to see him._

Kevin looked back at the tall building, his gaze moved all the way up to the top floor.

_Yes, he wanted to see him._

_But not yet, in time - maybe..._

_It was too soon._

Kevin decided to speak to him online later and explain, just to make sure he wasn't upset or feeling let down.

Then he started the car up and drove away, heading back home once more.

* * *

_Marv waited and waited._

Eventually his nerves settled down and as he paced the floor and looked out the window at the ground far below and wondered how long Kevin would be, he gave a sigh and then checked his watch.

"Where_ is_ he?" He wondered.

Then his cell phone bleeped.

He picked it up off the coffee table and checked the message:

It was Harry, and he struggled to read the text, he knew Harry was right about the space button – he could barely understand it...

"_Ishe_ _ther_ _eyet?" _He wondered hopelessly, then he stared harder at the screen.

After a few minutes, he finally got it.

"Oh!" He said aloud, "I get it now... _IS HE THERE YET!_"

And Marv smiled, congratulating himself on his success.

Then he glanced at the giant panda sat in the corner of the room.

"I _knew _I could figure it out!" He said proudly to his new toy, "I'm smarter than Harry thinks I am!"

Then he sent the message_: N_ for _No_.

Then Marv put the phone back on the table, checked the time again and thought some more about McCallister:

He didn't want to think about him too deeply, because he could still recall every single one of his painful pranks and their consequences like it had been yesterday.

Marv was no stranger to pain –he liked a bit of it -under the right circumstances and with the right person simply because he was like that, – but under _those_ circumstances, robbing a house and being up against a kid who had seemed like he was out to kill the pair of them? _No_. That had been hell on earth, it was the kind of stuff that had given him bad dreams for many years and he hoped those dreams wouldn't start up again now he was about to see McCallister again after all these years – because they lived in a nice place now and he could just imagine how Harry would react if he started getting those scary dreams again – he _always_ had exploded into a rage back in those days, when he woke up because Marv was fighting under the covers screaming to get the spider off him – _then he'd get even more mad at him when he realized he'd wet the bed again_...

Marv took a deep breath.

"It's okay." He said aloud, "It was a long time ago, things have changed...I'm _not_ scared of him now. He's _not_ gonna hurt me, he _likes_ me..._I think_..."

Then he blinked back tears.

"_I want Harry." _He said quietly, suddenly feeling like he wasn't so sure about seeing this thing through.

It was easy for Harry to come up with plans, Harry could do _anything_ – but Marv was _not_ like Harry at all, and he knew it too...

He looked at the time again, gave a sigh and sat down on the leather couch, hugging a soft zebra cushion as he wished this guy would just show up, so he could do what Harry wanted him to do and get it over with...

After sitting there for a while, his nerves settled down yet again.

He looked at the time.

Kevin McCallister was more than two hour's late...

"_Come on!" _He exclaimed, wanting nothing more than to get this over with.

Then his phone bleeped again.

It was the same message so Marv didn't have to spend time trying to figure it out.

He gave a sigh as he sent the reply _N_ once more.

"No Harry, he's _not_ here." He said aloud as the message went off.

Then he paced the room again, checking the time, wondering what was going on.

Then his phone bleeped yet again.

Marv picked it up and accessed the message, looking in confusion at the way the words ran together because of Harry's broken phone.

"_He's notcoming..."_ He said, reading it slowly, _"Need newplan I willcomehomean dgiveyou –"_

Marv's eyes lit up as he read the message.

"Oh yes Harry!" He exclaimed, replying at once with the word _YES_ in capitals and a dozen _X's_ beside it.

Then he thought about what the rest of the message meant.

"What does _turnative_ mean?" He wondered, looking once more at his toy panda...

* * *

Twenty minutes later the door opened and shut again very quickly and Harry took off his long coat and rubbed his hands together.

"I was freezin' my balls off out there!" He exclaimed, "Why the hell didn't he show up?"

And he glanced at Marv, who had a big goofy grin on his face as he disappeared into the front room.

Harry shook his head; Marv always had something to smile about but right now, he couldn't figure out what it was because their plan had just failed badly...

He went through to the front room and gave a sigh.

"We haven't blown it. He just got nervous; he'll be online tonight with an excuse... I'll talk him around..."

_Then he stopped._

He stared at Marv, who had stripped off his clothes and jumped onto the leather couch with an excited look in his eyes.

"_I got your message Harry!"_ He said as his eyes sparkled.

He looked like he was so excited he could barely control himself.

Harry just carried on staring at him.

"How can you feel horny at a time like this? _Our plan just went to the wall!_"

Marv lay back on the couch, still fixing Harry with a starry eyed gaze.

"_I read your message..."_

Marv grabbed the phone and read it aloud:

"Need new plan. I will come home and give you _anal_, turnative _roughly!_"

And he was bubbling over with excitement now.

"_Roughly!_ Yes please, you _know_ I like rough!"

Then he paused, thinking about the part he didn't understand.

"What's a turnative?" Marv wondered.

He was about to start bouncing up and down on the sofa.

Harry gave a weary sigh, snatching the phone from him.

"_No,_ Marv! I said: Need new plan. I will come home and give you _an alternative_ (roughly)!"

The excitement faded from Marv's eyes as he picked up his shirt and put it back on and then reach for his pants.

"Sorry Harry. But you said _roughly_..."

Harry gave another sigh as he shook his head.

"No you big dummy! I meant that I, _roughly_, as in _kind of_, have an _alternative plan_, do you get it _now?"_

Marv was zipping his pants up as he nodded.

"Yeah I get it." He said, sounding disappointed.

Harry had missed the reason for his disappointment by a mile.

"Don't worry Marv," He told him, "We'll get him - I've got another idea...we just have to wait until tonight, I need to speak to him first, but I've got a feeling he might just fall for this one."

Marv was dressed again now.

He glanced at Harry with curiosity in his eyes.

"Sounds like it might be a good one."

Harry smiled and that wicked playful look was back in his eyes.

"Oh yeah," He said, sounding very sure of himself, "This one's good. It's gonna _work_, too!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_As night fell, Kevin felt uneasy._

He had thought about messaging Marv several times, but each time he had backed out.

He knew the reason for this was because he felt a little bit guilty – the guy probably _was_ genuine, he probably _did_ regret the past – and he probably _was_ lonely and unhappy, too...

Thinking about all these things only made Kevin feel worse.

So he decided: _He would get in touch with him and he would say sorry and mean it, too..._

He went online and went straight to Marv's profile and his gaze lingered on his picture for a moment as he wished he could see his face; it was curiosity more than anything else, he wanted to know how much the former burglar had changed since he last saw him.

_Marv was online._

As soon as he noticed that he began to message him via chat.

'Marv,' He wrote, 'I'm SO sorry I didn't show up today. Something came up and I couldn't make it. Are you ok?'

The reply came back with lightening speed and Kevin raised an eyebrow as he watched the reply pop up:

_Marv had always been a dumb guy as far as he recalled, he was surprised that he had become so good with typing and spelling... but he was remembering Marv as he knew him from years ago, and people changed over time in lots of ways...maybe Marv had learned to read and write properly while he was in jail, that would explain it..._

'I waited and waited for you', Marv's message read, 'I thought maybe you changed your mind. Maybe it's because you still hate me...'

Kevin gave a sigh and shook his head.

"I don't hate you!" He said aloud as he typed the same words and sent them to him.

'So why didn't you show up? You should have let me know, you could have sent me a message. I was upset, I still am. I'm not so sure that you want to be friends with me. If you hate me just say so, I'll go away...'

Kevin gave another sigh. 'Of course I don't hate you!' He wrote back, 'I'll prove it.'

And as he typed the words _I_ _will see you on Monday, I will take another day off work and come over to you at ten a.m.,_ he knew he was sure about this:

_He wanted to see the guy, just to know that he was okay..._

* * *

Harry laughed out loud.

"There ya go, Marv! He's fallen for it! I told ya he just needed to feel a bit of sympathy!"

Then Harry thought for a moment and a crafty smile crept onto his face.

"I need to make sure he doesn't feel threatened by you, he needs to think you're perfectly safe to visit... let's give him another reason to feel sorry for you, shall we?"

And Harry chuckled and started to type.

Marv looked over his shoulder.

"But I'm _not _disabled!" He said at once.

Harry sent the message and sat back, waiting for Kevin's response.

"You can use my wheelchair, the one I used before I got my hip replaced. I'd rather have him think you can't walk – it might help him to feel more protective towards you, Marv. And it might make him less likely to wanna jump on you, know what I mean?"

Marv felt confused.

"But I thought you wanted me to kiss him and hug him and all the rest of it?"

As Harry looked at him sharply he spotted a shimmer of jealousy in his eyes that served to remind him just how suddenly Harry's possessive streak could rise to the surface.

"You'll do what I say, when I tell you to do it." He told him, "You're with _me_, Marvin! You ain't jumpin' into bed with another guy!"

Marv just nodded, knowing the only one to bend the rules around here would be Harry, when he felt kinky enough – although there was always the chance that he might regret it after he'd got over how much the idea turned him on...

"I don't want to make you jealous." Marv said, recalling the countless times Harry had got excited – when drunk – over the idea of other guys flirting in the bar with him. _Many times that had led to a fist fight outside when Harry suddenly came to his senses and lost his temper at the end of the night..._

"You won't make me jealous." Harry told him, "I know what I'm doing..."

And he looked at the laptop and saw Kevin's response:

'How come you're in a wheelchair, Marv? What happened?'

That little malicious sparkle was back in Harry's eyes as he set his fingers down on the keypad and they began to dance gracefully across the letters:

'I broke and cracked a lot of bones back in the old days. I never got much chance to get proper treatment for the damage it did to me, not while I was in jail. Now I can't walk. But its okay, me and Harry live in a nice apartment and Harry pays for everything, I try not to think about the things I can't do any more, I just think about the things I can still do. Don't get upset over it, Kevin. Don't blame yourself. _You were just a kid when you set those traps, you didn't know how much damage you could do to me_.'

As Harry clicked _send_, he laughed.

Marv started to smile.

"That was clever, Harry! Now he'll feel _really_ guilty!"

"I know!" Harry said with glee, and then he picked up a small metal file and began to file his nails while he waited for the reply to come back.

"Come on ya little shit!" He said to the screen as he kept his gaze fixed on the chat box, "Come to poppa..."

Then he chuckled.

"That's a heck of a long pause...I'll bet he's on a massive guilt trip, a huge one...I'll bet he's cryin' like a little girl now he's read that!"

Marv laughed and nodded.

"I'll bet he is, Harry!"

A reply came back and Harry put the nail file down.

"What's he said now?" He wondered.

Then he laughed again.

"Listen to this, Marv: _'Oh God I am so sorry, Marv! I am crying_ –'"

He looked at Marv with a sparkle in his eyes.

"I told ya that would get to him!"

Then he carried on reading: "'and I _really_ want to make it up to you. Don't apologize to me any more, I should be saying sorry to _you!_ And I will, when I see you on Monday. And I _am_ your friend. I won't let you down again I promise, love Kevin.' "

Harry laughed as he indicated to the screen.

"Ooh, will ya look at that, honey – he's sent ya a couple of kisses too!"

And both the former burglars laughed again.

Harry put his arm around Marv's shoulder and stroked his hair, winding his fingers around a curly strand, toying with him as he quickly tapped out another message with his other hand:

'Got to go now, see you Monday –'

Then Harry added two kisses back, then he logged out and closed the laptop.

"There ya go," He said, sounding pleased with himself, "He's fallen for it. Now all you have to do is play the part. You know what to do, you haven't forgotten have you, Marv?"

Marv smiled back at Harry, loving the way he was gently toying with his hair; he loved it when Harry was in such a good mood.

"I know _exactly_ what to do." He promised him.

Harry's eyes sparkled as he gave him a smile that showed his gold tooth.

Then his grip on Marv's hair became harder and he pushed him downwards.

_"Down ya go, Marv."_ Was all he said in reply.

* * *

The weekend went slowly for Kevin.

He tried not to shut himself away too much because his Mom was quite sharp eyed at spotting when he had things on his mind, and Marv was on his mind for the whole weekend.

_He found himself counting down the hours until nightfall when he could go online and speak to him again._

Kevin had tried to do everything he could think of to keep his mind off Marv Merchants but no matter if he went for a walk, stayed at home, watched TV – nothing took the guy from his thoughts.

In a crazy kind of way he wondered if he was falling for him even though they hadn't met – at least, they hadn't met in the flesh since the days when they had been enemies.

_There was fine line between love and hate, wasn't there? _

_What happened when that line was crossed? _

_What if that line became blurred?_

Kevin felt like his head was spinning.

Then he sat alone in the dark while he waited for Marv to come online and wondered about his own role in Marv's disability.

He hated himself for knowing that Marv's life was ruined because of his mean pranks.

He knew Marv was right; back then, he had just been a kid playing at catching the burglars.

_He hadn't stopped to think about the kind of damage his traps could inflict.._.

Now that guilt weighed heavy.

"_I'm so sorry, Marv."_ He whispered as he sat in his darkened room, on his laptop with his gaze fixed on Marv's profile as he waited for him to come online.

When Marv did come online Kevin was surprised at the sense of relief he felt just to know that the guy was okay; he was sure if he went just one night without hearing from him, he would worry himself sick...

And that was the moment that he came to accept it: he knew it, he couldn't deny it any longer – _he was really starting to care about Marv..._

* * *

_Monday couldn't have come around fast enough for Kevin._

His father had gone to work, his mother was about to go shopping – and she had paused at the door, looking back at Kevin as he slipped on a leather jacket and stepped back from the hallway mirror, running his fingers through his fair hair.

"It's Monday." She remarked with a look of curiosity in her eyes, "I thought you were going to work? Why are you wearing jeans and covered in cologne?"

"I'm taking the day off, I'm catching up with an old friend." He told her as the thought ran through his mind again that she missed absolutely nothing.

"Oh, well have a good time." She replied, then she gave him a smile and she was gone out the door.

As he heard her car leave he looked back in the mirror and a faint smile played about his lips as he thought about her question and silently asked himself the same thing:

_Why was he wearing so much cologne?_

_This wasn't a date..._

And as he thought of Marv so much emotion rose up in him it took him by surprise.

"Stop it!" He said aloud, "Just be cool about this – you're _only_ going to have coffee with the guy..."

Then he grabbed his car keys, paused to check his appearance one more time in the mirror and then he left the house, still wondering why he felt so nervous – and asking himself again, _why_ he had taken so much time over his appearance, because he knew this was _not_ a date...

* * *

Harry was already wrapped up in a long, thick coat and ready to leave. He checked his watch and looked back at Marv.

"Comfortable?" He asked him with amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

Marv smiled.

"Kind of. I feel sort of _restrained_ being in this chair, Harry."

A brief look of annoyance flashed in Harry's eyes as he recognised the tone in Marv's voice.

"You're in the wheelchair to fool Kevin, you're not in there to feel restrained, this ain't a bondage game!"

Marv laughed again and his cheeks flushed.

"I know but I feel kind of trapped and helpless, Harry."

"So don't think about it!" He told him, "Remember this is for _revenge_, not _fun_, okay? We get our fun when we can laugh because that bundle of misery's cryin his eyes out over you, have you got that?"

Marv nodded.

"Sure Harry. I won't let you down. I'd never do that."

Harry's expression softened.

"I know that." He replied, walking over to him.

As Marv looked up at him and Harry looked down at him in the chair, Harry smiled and he spoke softly to him.

"You do this right, Marv. Remember, you have to pretend you ain't into my kind of stuff. Let him think you need someone to be really nice to you."

A look of disgust crossed Marv's face as if he'd just ate something that made him want to throw up.

"_Nice?"_ He said, "I don't want _any _guy to treat me like that! You _know_ what I'm like!"

"Exactly," Harry replied, "_I _know what you're like – but _he_ mustn't find out! You have to play along, know what I'm sayin'?"

Marv nodded again.

"I know that, Harry."

And Harry reached out and ran a fingertip lightly down his cheek.

"You do this right and I'll give ya a reward tonight..."

Marv's eyes lit up.

_"Spank me with a hairbrush?"_

Harry winked.

"Let's just say you won't be sitting down without feeling a reminder for a long time, Marv!"

And Marv's eyes lit up.

"I wish we could fool around right now!"

And he made a move to get up from the chair.

_"Don't do that!"_ Harry yelled, "I know what you're like – you'll forget and do something dumb in front of Kevin like stand up and then he'll know there's nothing wrong with you! _What_ did I tell you to do?"

Marv gave a sigh.

"I have to stay in the chair from the minute you leave the house to the minute Kevin leaves." He replied, "I know, I'm not allowed to get up or the game is spoiled."

Harry smiled again.

"That's right, Marv. We wouldn't want to spoil the game now, when we've come so far..."

Then he headed for the door.

"I'll text you." He called back to him.

" I know, _Y_ or _N._" Marv replied.

Then he heard the door close and suddenly he felt all alone again, very much aware of the fact that he was alone and also very much aware of the weight that Harry had placed on his shoulders:

He didn't want to make a mistake, he didn't want to let him down, either.

Marv sat in Harry's wheelchair and glanced at the time:

_Kevin would be here in half an hour..._

He thought about what Harry had told him to do and guessed he was right; he _had_ to make this look convincing.

Marv wheeled himself forward a little, recalling how Harry used to use the chair before he got his hip replaced.

As the chair rolled forward he laughed.

"This is easy!" He exclaimed, and then he wheeled himself out into the hall and got the chair moving faster. He stopped by the door, where the buttons were set on the wall and just within his reach from the chair to operate the lock. Kevin would be buzzing to come in soon and he wanted to make this look believable...

"You _can_ do this, Marv." He said confidently, and then he backed the chair up, hit a small table and knocked an antique vase to the floor with a crash.

Marv looked at the shattered china.

"Oops..."He said, then he got out of the chair and quickly swept up the mess, throwing the broken china into the trash, and while he did that he wondered how he would tell Harry that he'd just broken one of his favourite pieces of china ..._five grand's worth, to be precise..._

* * *

Kevin arrived at the apartment more than fifteen minutes late.

He had turned up outside right on time but then he had sat in his car, turning over everything in his mind before he finally decided he _had_ to do this, he _needed_ to see Marv...

Kevin felt nervous from the moment he buzzed the entrance and heard Marv's voice from the top floor.

"Come up, the door's open." He said quietly.

Kevin had got into the elevator still feeling nervous and all the way to the top floor he thought about what he ought to say when he was face to face with Marv.

He'd thought long and hard about the pranks he'd pulled on those two guys back when he was a kid and he was sure he had never regretted his actions as much as he did now.

Marv had been hurt, _really _hurt by him?

He gave a sigh and shook his head.

"_I'm so sorry."_ He murmured as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

Kevin stepped out and looked left and right, half expecting to find himself followed by a giant toy panda, but there was no sign of Harry or the stuffed toy.

He walked slowly down the hallway, pausing when he reached Marv's door.

Then he took a deep breath and reached out to hit the doorbell, then he drew his hand back.

"_I don't know what to say to him..."_ He whispered under his breath.

Then he guessed he couldn't let himself back out a second time because that would _really_ hurt Marv's feelings...

He rang the bell.

Moments later the door opened.

"Hi Kevin." Said Marv.

Kevin looked at the former burglar and the first thing that hit him was the fact that Marv had barely changed at all, and he looked good for his age. He was wearing blue jeans and a pale shirt and there was a scent of heavy expensive cologne in the air – far more expensive than the stuff Kevin had put on this morning – but the scent wasn't coming from Marv; it seemed to permeate through the apartment..._was this the scent of Harry Lyme?_

Marv backed up the chair and Kevin stepped inside and closed the door.

"It's good to see you." He said to Marv, then he felt an ache in his heart and gave into his emotions, leaning down and giving Marv a big hug.

"_I'm so sorry I hurt you so badly, I was a kid, I just didn't know, I didn't think about what I was doing."_

As he spoke he was still hugging Marv, who felt trapped by his embrace and slightly bewildered.

He quickly remembered Harry's plan and smiled as Kevin let go of him.

"Don't blame yourself." He said to him, "That was a long time ago. And I'm so pleased to see you. I get so lonely when Harry's at work all day."

Marv wheeled the chair all the way up the leopard print hallway and into the front room, silently congratulating himself on _not_ knocking the china tiger over on the way.

Kevin looked around the luxurious room with the zebra themed rug and the leather sofas. There was a huge TV screen that took up almost all of the wall on one side of the room and on the other was a large aquarium built into the wall where colorful tropical fish swam in and out of an ornamental wreck of a pirate ship.

"Wow." He said, "This place is great!"

"Why don't you sit down, we can talk." Marv said, trying to hide his nervousness and hoping that Kevin didn't spot it.

"Sure."

Kevin sat down on the sofa and Marv wheeled the chair up beside him.

"So you can't walk at all?" Kevin wondered.

"Well..." Marv's eyes grew wider as he wondered what he could say – Harry hadn't given him the answer to that question - that meant he had to think for himself and _that_ was tough...

"I can sort of get about sometimes but not today. It comes and goes..._sort of."_ He said quickly, and then he shut up, hoping he hadn't made him suspicious.

But Kevin's eyes were full of concern as he looked at Marv.

Then he reached out and took hold of his hand, something that Marv had not been expecting to happen.

"If I could change the past, I would." Kevin said, speaking from his heart, "And I wish I could do something to help you. How bad does Harry treat you, what does he do to you?"

And Marv thought about it, then shifted awkwardly in his chair.

This was _very_ difficult, because just the thought of what Harry did to him made him aroused and he didn't want Kevin to realize that...

He pulled his hand back from Kevin's grip, placing both his hands in his lap to hide the signs that the thoughts that were going through his head were _definitely_ turning him on...

"Well he...um... likes to dominate me. He likes to give me orders. _And _he likes to _smack_ me..."

Marv's face had started to flush.

"You know..." He ran his fingers through his hair, looking away as he tried not to smile. "I mean..._spank_ me..._hard_."

"Too hard?" Kevin wondered.

Marv still had his face turned away as he thought about that answer:

_Too hard? Oh God, in his dreams!_

It was only because Harry was the one who believed in keeping it safe, sane and consensual that he was still in one piece; he had lost count of the times he'd begged Harry:

_Harder, More...Do it again_...

"Sometimes he goes too far," Marv said, keeping his hands tighter in his lap as his imagination began to burn brightly, "When he's doing _all _kinds of stuff to me...he always goes too far, he likes to hurt me..."

Then he took in a sharp breath, discreetly taking the pressure off his lap because his hands were _not_ hiding his arousal now, his own touch was making it worse...

"I don't want to think about it." He said quickly, "It's just nice to see you, Kevin. I've often thought about what me and Harry did all those years ago. I don't blame you for what you did to us. We were burglars, we were the bad guys, and we deserved it."

"You didn't deserve this." Kevin said gently.

And Marv heard the softness in is voice and felt uncomfortable again.

"I hope you can stay for a while." He said "Harry's not back until late – he works long hours."

Kevin took another glance around and smiled as he saw the panda in the corner of the room.

"He got you that to keep you company?"

Marv's face lit up in a smile.

"Oh yeah! He buys me lots of toys!"

Then he noticed the look of confusion in Kevin's eyes and realized too late he had said the wrong thing.

"But I thought you said he was mean to you?"

"Only sexually." He replied, "He's _really_ mean then. But he's kind sometimes; he buys me toys so I have stuff to play with when he's out."

Kevin smiled.

"You like toys?"

Marv nodded.

"I've got cool train sets too!" He said excitedly,"And computer games!"

Kevin looked into Marv's eyes and felt an unexpected rush of affection for the guy; he was so sweet, so harmless, _so...cute?_

That thought had caught him by surprise and he tried to shove it aside but as he looked back at Marv he guessed there was no denying it... the big dumb former burglar _was_ cute...

"Would you like to get out of that chair and sit on the sofa?" He wondered.

"Oh no...I'd better stay here." Marv said, remembering Harry had told him to stay in the chair.

"How about if I make us a coffee?" Kevin wondered, "Let me do something for you, at least let me make the coffee."

"That's okay, I'll do it." Marv said.

_And he made a move to stand up._

Then he froze, half standing with his hand on the arm rest of the chair as he saw the look of surprise in Kevin's eyes.

Marv quickly grabbed at his back.

"_Ouch..." _He said cautiously, and sat back down.

"I sometimes forget." He said quickly, "That's how dumb I am!"

Kevin got up from his seat.

"I'll do it for you, Marv. I want to help you, okay?"

"Kitchen's third door on the left." He said quietly, then gave Kevin a brief smile.

As Kevin left the room, Marv gave a sigh, shifted in the chair and pressed at his crotch, willing the remains of his arousal to go down again.

"Do you _have_ to be so _nice?_" He muttered, feeling totally uncomfortable to have someone waiting on him, when he came from a world where he was always the servant - and _happy _to be the servant...

* * *

Marv's phone bleeped and he leaned forward and snatched it up from the table.

He read Harry's message.

"Yes he _is_ here!" He whispered nervously, ignoring the rules as he wheeled the chair far over to the window and hit Harry's number on speed dial.

The phone rang and rang.

Eventually Harry picked up the call.

"Marv?" He snapped in temper, "I thought I said don't call! I told ya, text me!"

"He's in the kitchen making me a coffee." He whispered, "What do I do when he comes back?"

"Be nice to him. Make him feel sorry for you. Remember Marv we want him to fall in love with you – we can't break his heart if it doesn't happen!"

"He's being so nice to me I want to throw up!" Marv whispered down the phone.

Harry chuckled.

"Great, that's what we want from him! Tell him you're hurting, let him make a fuss of you. And if you can, if you can grab the right moment, kiss him – but that's _ALL_, Marvin – just a kiss, have you got that?"

"Sure. Where are you, Harry?"

"I waited for the bar to open."

Marv gave a sigh.

"You're drinking already?"

"No, I'm just having a beer and playing pool. I'll start drinking properly after lunchtime. I'm in Lacey's Bar. I like coming in here, I haven't been in for a while I might hang around till later and catch up with some of the guys..."

Marv gave another sigh.

"You'll get steaming drunk _again,_ Harry!"

He laughed but then his voice darkened.

"Get off the phone before McCallister catches you, Marv!"

On hearing those words, Marv hung up the call and put the phone in his pocket.

Then Kevin came back into the room with the coffee and set it down on the table.

Marv wheeled his chair back over to the couch and as Kevin sat down he smiled.

"Thanks for making the coffee." He said, remembering what Harry had told him to do, "I like having help around here- I don't usually get any, not from Harry."

Then Marv shifted in the chair and clutched at his back for a moment.

"I'm really hurting today. Sorry, I don't mean to complain, _I guess I should just shut up about it._.."

And then Marv looked down at the floor.

Kevin felt a wave of sympathy for him that he just couldn't ignore any longer.

"He shouldn't make you fend for yourself, he should_ help_ you!" Kevin told him, then he got up and suddenly Kevin was behind Marv's chair and pushing it towards the bedroom.

Marv looked around at him as they got loser to the open bedroom door.

"What are you doing?" He said, unable to hide his nervousness.

"I want you to have a lie down." Kevin told him, "You're in pain, it's my fault and I want to help. Don't worry, you can trust me – you can take your shirt off and lie down and I'll massage your back, does that sound nice?"

Marv's face flushed as he thought about Kevin's suggestion.

Okay." He said quietly, knowing Harry would _want _him to be doing this...

* * *

Harry had long since bored of playing pool.

He had put down the cue and walked away from the table and sat on a bar stool and after a couple of drinks, had decided to have a couple more.

A few guys had come in who he knew from his many years drinking in this place and they had smiled and he had heard the usual _"Oh no, little Harry Lyme's in the house!" _remark that had made him laugh; the guys knew exactly what he was like...

The bartender had shot him a warning glance after his fifth beer and Harry had smiled back.

"I'm bein' a _good_ boy today!" He'd exclaimed.

And the tall, powerfully built guy behind the bar who had been serving Harry drinks for more years than he could count had smiled back at him.

"Sure you are." He'd replied, "But I'm out of virgins, so don't bother telling me another one's split, okay?"

And Harry had laughed, raised the glass to his lips and drank some more.

"No Marv today?" Wondered one of the guys who stood at the bar with him.

"No, he's busy." Harry replied.

Then he'd thought about getting his phone out and sending him a text message – but he guessed the beer was making him impulsive:

_Marv was with Kevin and he didn't want to make Kevin suspicious..._

Then Harry turned back to talk to the guy again, but he had turned away and was talking to another man.

As he listened, he heard something he couldn't resist remarking on.

"I don't know." The guy was saying, "I'm thinking about doing something big for my birthday...not just a party, _really_ big, _huge_ - _really, really big_ –"

Harry wriggled between the two taller men, reached for their shoulders and jumped up.

"_My dick!"_ He said loudly.

And the two guys looked around, one shook his head and the other just gave him a brief, annoyed glance.

But then they both laughed.

"Don't you _ever_ stop saying dirty things?" The first guy asked him.

"No!" Harry replied, then he laughed.

"Want a drink, you crazy little guy?" Said the other guy.

Harry smiled and his gold tooth sparked.

"Thanks pal!" He replied.

* * *

Marv was laying on his front on his bed- the bed he shared with Harry.

His shirt was off and as Kevin poured some oil onto his skin Marv tensed, knowing he would partly enjoy this because Harry sometimes liked to massage him.

"Just relax, Marv." Kevin said in a well meaning tone of voice, "I'll make you feel a lot better. Just take it easy, I know how to do this."

And his hands began to slowly glide up Marv's back.

It made him sigh and he closed his eyes and smiled.

"That feels good." He murmured, never failing to feel surprised at how sleepy massage quickly made him when it was done by someone who knew how to do it well.

"You deserve some kindness, someone to make you feel good." Kevin said as his hands moved gently over Marv's back.

"No I don't." Marv said honestly, then he remembered how Harry had told him to behave.

"I mean, I'm just not used to it."

"Is it helping?" Kevin wondered.

Marv thought about it: _Actually, it felt okay, although he wished he'd taken everything off and he wished Kevin had given his piercings a couple of spiteful tugs..._

"Yes, it feels great." He said quietly.

Then as Kevin stopped stroking his back, Marv turned over and looked up at him.

"You've got a really nice touch." He said softly, and then he smiled.

"Thanks for doing that for me Kevin. _I wish Harry was as kind as you are_."

Kevin was sitting beside him and as he looked down at him, he ran his fingers through the hair that covered Marv's chest.

"So do I." He said quietly, "I wish Harry was nicer to you. Marv, you deserve so much better than him."

And Marv looked into his eyes.

"Thanks for saying that." He whispered.

Then his heart raced nervously as Kevin returned his smile and leaned closer – he wanted to freeze, to say stop – but it was too late and this was what Harry wanted him to do any way – _Kevin was about to give him a kiss..._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Marv froze, staring at Kevin.

Kevin pulled back a little, still with his hands on Marv's shoulders.

"What's the matter? Maybe I shouldn't be doing this – _sorry_-"

"_No."_

Kevin looked at him with confusion in his eyes. Marv was not the brightest guy in the world and it was clear his move for an impulsive kiss, purely because it had been a moment that just felt right, had made him nervous – but he wasn't sure what he'd meant – _No, don't kiss him _- or _No, don't stop?_

"You _don't_ want to kiss me?" He wondered.

"_No."_

"Sorry." Kevin said again, shifting back a little.

But now Marv was reaching for him.

"No! I...I mean _don't _stop...just kiss me."

As Kevin looked into his eyes he felt that warm rush of affection for him all over again.

"Okay," He said gently, "Okay I'll do that, Marv –"

"_Just a kiss."_ He told him, remembering what Harry had told him to do.

"Just a kiss." Kevin repeated, then he leaned closer and their lips touched.

As he kissed him, Marv closed his eyes, giving a sigh as he felt Kevin's hand slide across his chest.

His fingers brushed one of his nipple rings and Marv broke off from their kiss.

"Pull it."

"No, I might hurt you! I'd _never_ hurt you, Marv."

Marv's eyes seemed to darken a little as he smiled.

"_Pull_ it, Kevin!"

"No!" Kevin said softly as he hugged Marv closer and held him gently, "I'm _not_ hurting you, Marv!"

"_I know."_ He said quietly, feeling a flicker of annoyance now: _Kevin was starting to sound just like Harry, always holding back..._

Kevin sat beside him with his arm around him and thought about what Marv had just asked him to do.

"I know you said Harry hurts you, but maybe he doesn't realize you like it like that – I mean to a degree, just not _his_ degree."

Marv was starting to worry now. He wondered:

_Had he blown it? Was Kevin starting to see through their trap?_

"I don't get hugs and kisses from him." He said quickly, "I can't believe how nice this feels - just having you doing this, holding me. I haven't had anyone do that for a _long_ time!"

And as he saw Kevin's eyes light up he felt a flicker of guilt because he thought of Harry at the same time and he wasn't quite sure why he felt so guilty:

_He was doing what Harry asked him to do, why did he feel so bad about it?_

Marv didn't bother to try and think too deeply about it; he had never been a deep thinker and he wasn't about to start now. All he knew for sure was, he felt unhappy and he wished this stupid revenge thing was over so he could go back to being with Harry and have Harry thinking only of him and not evening up an old score...

As he thought about old scores he remembered the traps Kevin had set for him and Harry.

"What's the matter?" Kevin wondered, as Marv's blue eyes suddenly lost their sparkle.

"Nothing." Marv replied as he lay beside him with his arms around him, "I was just thinking...about...well, I don't know... just thinking. Like I said, this is nice. I could get used to you holding me like this, Kevin."

_And Marv thought about Harry._

_Harry had been in a lot of pain with his hip._

_It was all Kevin's fault..._

Marv gently pushed him away and sat up.

"I'd better get back in my chair now. Thanks for the massage, but I guess I'm a bit like you – I want to take things slow. I want us to be friends and...I don't know..."

Marv's gaze lingered on Kevin's as Kevin passed him his shirt and he put it back on.

A smile played about Marv's lips as he turned slightly, avoiding his gaze as he looked down at the buttons and started to do them up.

Harry had always said he had beautiful eyes, _he said his eyes could hold a guy mesmerised_, that was what he'd said, _mesmerised with a glance_... it certainly worked with Kevin...

He felt a glow of satisfaction as he looked back at Kevin once more and hit him with another glance from his pretty eyes.

"I guess I want us to be good friends." He said warmly with a smile on his face, "And I'd like us to do this again – _if _you wanna see me again. We don't have to do anything wrong, not wrong in Harry's eyes - _not that Harry would know any way_...we could just be ..."

Then he frowned, silently searching his slow moving mind as he tried to grab the right words - because he wanted to sound as clever as he felt right now, but he just couldn't find those words.

Kevin helped him out:

"We could just be close, like this." Kevin said, and then he smiled.

"And yes I'd like that, Marv. I'd _love _to see you again. But I can't keep having time off work. We need to work something else out. What does Harry do at the weekend?"

"He spends most of his time with me, when he's not out drinking. _He likes his beer a_ _lot!_"

Marv was still sitting on the bed and Kevin moved the wheelchair up closer.

"What's he like when he's drunk?"

He caught a flicker of something in Marv's eyes that he couldn't define because it was there and then it was gone – _sadness, regret?_

"Is he _mean _when he's drunk?"

"He doesn't mean to be. He always says sorry when he's sobered up. _And_ he means that, too."

Marv had said that a little too emphatically, but then he shook his head.

"No." He said quickly, "Forget I said that – you're _not_ here to talk about what Harry's like when he's drunk."

"What do you mean?"

Marv saw confusion in Kevin's eyes and he realized he'd done it again: _He'd just said way too much without thinking..._

He shook his head again.

"Could you help me back into the chair?"

"Sure."

Kevin put his arms around him and Marv held onto him leaning the way he recalled Harry doing it back in the days before he got his hip replaced.

Kevin's arms were around him briefly and as he let go Marv pushed away the anger he felt rising up inside him as he recalled all the pain that Harry had suffered – and still suffered to a degree – all because of Kevin McCallister's spiteful traps...

Marv was getting comfortable in the chair and he did not want to look into Kevin's eyes as thoughts raced through his mind:

If it was up to him, they wouldn't be wasting time just to make the guy upset, even if it did wind up making him cry for a long time...

If it was up to Marv, he would have simply punched him – or better still, got Harry to punch him – _really_ hard, so hard he'd always remember it, and then they would just walk away.

_But it was not up to him, it was up to Harry._

He didn't want to upset Harry's plan and the more time he spent with Kevin, the more he felt..._what?_ As if he was actually getting to _like_ this guy?

Marv gave a sigh and looked at Kevin.

"I think you'd better go now, I'm feeling a bit tired, I just don't feel like..." He stopped right there, searching for words that wouldn't come.

This was difficult: _He wasn't blessed with Harry's sharp mind..._

But Kevin just smiled and nodded.

"I know, I didn't expect us to hit it off so well like we did. It was nice, though. I'll come and see you again, give you some more hugs, how does that sound, Marv?"

Marv looked up at him and forced a smile even though he felt confused inside.

"Sounds good to me." He said quietly.

"You stay here, take it easy I'll see myself out. I'll be online later."

"I won't be there, not tonight." He told him, remembering Harry was still drinking and would need looking after later on, "Harry will probably want to spend some time with me when he gets back from Laceys."

Then he wished he could kick himself; he had told Kevin that Harry was at _work_ today...

_It was too late now._

"Lacey's?" He wondered.

Marv saw no point in lying to any great elaborate degree; it would just take _too much_ thinking and the kind brain power he didn't have – _Harry was always able to slip out of anything, talk his way through stuff that Marv couldn't even comprehend, he could just snatch bullshit from the air and spin it into gold but Marv just couldn't do it at all..._

"Harry went to work this morning like I said but then he called and said to me that some of the guys were going over to Lacey's, it's a gay bar down by Bridge Street."

"There are a few gay bars down there." Kevin replied, recalling that he remembered the location from years back on a night out with friends.

"It's a really old place." Marv told him, "There's a pool hall upstairs. Harry's got a few friends who go in there, he's been drinking in there on and off for almost thirty years. He loves that place. He _always_ comes back drunk."

And then he saw the worried look in Kevin's eyes and he laughed.

"I'll be okay – he'll just want to snuggle up to me and pass out, he's like that sometimes."

"I thought you said he's mean when he's drunk, and he doesn't hug you much?"

Marv's eyes flashed briefly with panic.

"Sometimes he can be sweet when he's had a beer. _Only sometimes_."

Kevin accepted this and leaned closer, giving Marv a brief hug.

As they separated Marv wondered if he would kiss him again, then he wondered why the hell that thought had crossed his mind in the first place- he was worried about Harry and his thoughts needed to be with Harry, because he knew he could be a real handful to deal with if he stayed out too long and drank way too much...

_But Kevin did not kiss him again._

Instead he put his hand on Marv's shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze.

"I'll see you soon." He promised him, then he walked out of the bedroom and Marv just sat there alone, listening for the front door to close.

When he did hear the door close, he got out of the wheelchair and gave a sigh of relief:

_This was difficult, Harry's plan seemed so simple – to Harry – but to Marv it was complicated, it was making him feel kind of weird, too..._

_He was almost feeling like_... _He didn't hate McCallister as much as he thought he did?_

Marv thought about Harry, then he remembered everything Kevin had done to both of them so long ago and finally his feelings clarified once more.

He walked through to the front room, glad to be able to stretch his long legs again.

Then he took his cell phone from his pocket and called Harry's number, because he just wanted to know he wasn't passed out drunk by now or in the back of a cop car for picking a fight with someone – Harry's moods could change scarily fast when he was sober - _but they were ten times worse when he'd been drinking..._

* * *

After leaving Marv and thinking about the stolen moment he had just grabbed with him, Kevin felt a mix of guilt and satisfaction – guilt at stealing the kiss when Marv had not been expecting it, and satisfaction to think that he had met a guy who he had once considered an enemy, found him to be a friend and then realized there could be more...

Part of him wondered if he was crazy for thinking like that; but Marv was just so..._easy to fall in love with?_

These thoughts played through his mind as he drove towards home.

Then, as he took a detour and headed out of his way in the opposite direction, he guessed he had to be going slightly crazy..._because he had thought about what Marv had just told him and he had decided to go to the bar and try and catch a glimpse of Harry Lyme..._

When he reached his destination he parked his car and sat there for a moment, looking at the bar that had the name _Lacey's_ in gold lettering across the front of the entrance.

Marv was right, the place looked old.

Kevin watched the doorway but no one came in or out and he guessed because it was such a cold day he wouldn't be catching a glimpse of anyone who might be drinking in there, not unless he sat here in the car for a very long time.

The only way to see Harry would be to go in there and hope he could avoid the guy recognising him...

Kevin felt nervous as he pushed the door and walked in.

As he walked in a single thought ran through his mind: _Why am I spying on Harry Lyme?_

Kevin had no answer to that question, other than the fact remained that he had a burning curiosity to see what this guy was like after all these years – he had heard enough from Marv to get a rough idea, and he had seen him at a distance the day he struggled with the giant toy panda – but he wanted to watch him in a private moment, see what he was really like...

And he _still _wasn't sure why he was doing it...

The bar was quite busy, Kevin noticed most of the drinkers were older men and a lot of the people in here were standing or sitting in groups with their friends, while others got drinks and headed upstairs to play pool. The room was filled with the usual level of conversation he'd expect in a bar, talking, occasional laughter- but as he looked around, he saw no sign of Harry.

He went over to the bar and waited to get a drink.

The bartender was up the other end of the bar serving another customer.

Kevin waited.

"_Hey."_ Said a voice.

Kevin ignored the guy, thinking he was talking to the men who had just come down from the pool hall and were waiting to get more drinks, they were standing close to Kevin and he didn't even bother to look around, because he'd seen them come down the stairs from where he was standing and Harry was not among them.

"_Hey."_

There was that voice again.

Then someone was pushing past him.

Kevin gave a sigh and stepped aside, giving the guy room.

_Some people were so rude_, that was the only thought that crossed his mind as he carried on looking up the bar, waiting to get his drink, and then guy who'd pushed in shoved him again.

And then he shoved him again to get level with the bar, but this time it was more like a drunken bump.

"Sorry." He said.

Kevin heard slurring to the guys voice and just kept his back turned; no one else was falling about drunk in here and he wasn't about to quarrel with the only person who was...

Then Kevin felt a sharp pinch on his rear that made him jump and he turned around sharply, blinking as he wondered what the hell was going on: _No one was behind him, not close enough to do that...at least, no one that he had noticed..._

Kevin shook his head and turned back to the bar.

He smiled as he felt mildly amused to think he'd been out to gay bars many times before, but _no one_ had ever pinched his ass so slyly...and here he was, in an old place like this, full mostly of men old enough to be his Dad and somebody had done just that...

"Hey..."

_There was that voice again._

_Then he felt a tap on the shoulder._

_He turned around. He looked down._

_Kevin's eyes grew wider..._

_It was Harry Lyme!_ He was standing there behind him now, swaying on his feet and holding a beer in his hand. His shirt had a couple of stains where he'd spilled drinks and his eyes were glazed.

"Hi." He said, smiling and showing his gold tooth, "You new in town? I'm Harry...you can buy me a drink if ya like!"

And then he laughed.

"On second thoughts, I'll get the drinks..."

And he leaned on the bar.

"_Hey!"_ He yelled loudly, "_Get another beer over here! And while you're at it, get me another virgin, this one just split!"_

And he gave Kevin a clumsy, drunken slap on the ass.

Kevin had frozen while Harry did that, he had just stared at him as he thought how different Harry was to how he'd imagined him:

He was drunk, he was loud... and by the way he was smiling at him, he was blatantly trying his luck with him, too...

_Did Marv know he acted like this when he was out on his own?_

Then Harry looked him up and down and stepped closer.

"How about you step in my office." He said sweetly, gesturing to the door that led to the toilets, "You can tell me what your favourite animal is..._mine_ _is the CHOCOLATE STARFISH!_"

And he started to laugh again.

Then one of the guys standing close to him put his arm around his shoulder and pulled him back

"_Chocolate starfish?"_ He exclaimed, "You're a filthy little guy, Harry! _Don't_ say stuff like that to strangers, you'll scare 'em away!"

And the guy looked at Kevin with a slightly bemused look on his face.

"Sorry about him," He said, giving Harry an affectionate squeeze, "He's drunk – and he's Harry, he's a dirty little fella but we love him really...this place would be too quiet without him, he's a real character!"

Harry looked up at his friend and laughed again then swayed on his feet.

And then, as something slowly dawned on him, Harry turned back sharply, wondering if he was just drunk or if the stuff with McCallister was driving him crazy...then as he wondered if he really HAD just spoken to Kevin, he stared at the spot where he had been standing:

_But no one was there now, who ever that guy was, he had gone..._

* * *

Kevin got into his car and started up the engine.

As he drove off he was still thinking about it: _He had been face to face with Harry and the former burglar hadn't even recognised him?_

Then he thought about the burglar he recalled from all those years ago and he felt mildly shocked that what he had just seen was a snapshot of what the guy was _really_ like, and the reality was very different to what he had imagined.

Kevin had pictured walking in there, finding this mean, slightly dangerous guy with a dark gleam in his eyes who would look at him and then all the memories would come rushing back and maybe he would have swung a punch at him, maybe he would have been every bit as scary as Kevin had pictured him from the old days...

But no: The guy he had just seen in the bar, the little guy with the loud mouth who drank way too much and made dirty comments and pinched stranger's asses... that was the _real_ Harry Lyme...

Kevin carried on driving home, smiling and shaking his head as he thought about Harry.

"Chocolate starfish?" He said aloud, and then he laughed.

Harry was definitely nothing like he'd imagined him to be and from what he'd seen today, he was no one to be scared of, not now he saw him through the eyes of a grown man...Marv might find him intimidating, but Kevin guessed that was just because he was Marv, but as far as Kevin was concerned, he saw no threat from the guy at all, not any more...

"_That guy's not scary..."_ He murmured to himself, _"He's just an asshole!"_

* * *

Marv had waited an hour before leaving the apartment, just be sure there was no chance of bumping into Kevin.

Then he got the bus and walked the rest of the way to the bar, knowing he would have to drive home because Harry would be in no fit state to do so.

Harry's flashy car was parked outside and Marv felt relieved to know he was still in the same place – he had tried to call him more than a dozen times since Kevin left, and for half of those times Harry had cut off the call and for the rest of the time, the phone had been off.

Marv pushed open the door and walked into the bar.

He smiled at a few familiar faces and one of the guys just said, _"He's over there..."_

"Thanks." Marv replied, then went to the back of the bar, where Harry was standing by juke box swaying on his feet as he raked through loose change he was looking at closely, trying to work out how much he needed for the machine.

"_Harry."_

On hearing Marv's voice Harry looked up at him, blinking to try and clear his blurred vision.

He smiled up at him.

"Oh hi, Marv! Do you wanna put some music on? I can't see how much fuckin' money I've got! I think the change has gone blurry...can _you_ see?"

Marv picked up Harry's jacket and folded it over his arm, not bothering to struggle to get him to put it on.

Then he draped Harry's coat around his shoulders and put his arm around him.

"Come on, you need to go home."

"It's _not _late!" Harry snapped in annoyance.

"No but you need to go to sleep. You're drunk, Harry. You're _really _drunk."

Harry wanted to argue but he just didn't have the energy. He leaned on Marv as he led him out of the bar, pausing on the way to say goodbye to some of the guys.

When he got into the car he just went for the passenger side because everything was spinning and he knew that was a sure sign that Marv was right; he'd had more than enough.

He closed his eyes as he felt cushioned by the warmth of the car and the soft leather interior.

The engine started up with a smooth purr and Harry smiled.

"Take me home, Marvin." He murmured.

"That's what I'm doing, Harry." He heard him say, then as the car started to move, Harry drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Harry stayed feeling warm and contented until Marv woke him up and waking up jolted him and he glared Marv, not wanting to move from his seat.

"You can't sleep in the car!" Marv had told him, and pulled him out of the car, then got him over to the elevator.

As it stared to climb smoothly up to the top floor, Harry had leaned against the wall while he closed his eyes, still partly leaning on Marv.

Then all of a sudden his senses had come back to him and he snapped his eyes open and looked up at his lover.

"What happened with McCallister?" He demanded.

"It went just like you planned it, Harry!" Marv said with a smile on his face, "He wanted to be friends; he said he really liked me – he kissed me too! He felt sorry for me because he thought I was in pain. _He gave me a massage and he kissed me!_"

Then Marv saw Harry's eyes turn cold and his smile vanished.

The elevator doors slid open.

"He gave you a _what?_" Harry snapped.

He stumbled forward and Marv caught him, helping him out into the corridor and they began to walk to the door of their apartment.

"He just gave my back a rub, nothing else!"

Harry glared at him.

"You'd better be tellin' me the truth, I trust you, Marv!"

"I _am _telling the truth!"

Marv felt slightly hurt as he unlocked the door and they went inside.

Harry kicked off his shoes and pushed his coat off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor.

"That wasn't part of the plan!" He said, pushing the door shut heavily as he looked up at Marv.

"But we got the result we wanted – he likes me, Harry! And it was only a back rub- he just took me through to the bedroom and –"

"_Our bedroom?"_ Harry fumed, "You let that little creep into _our_ bedroom?"

Marv's eyes widened a little as he realized perhaps Harry hadn't needed to know that part...

"Sorry." He said nervously, "I was only trying to get him to do what you wanted..."

Harry swayed on his feet again and reached out, putting his hand on Marv's arm to steady himself up.

He blinked glazed eyes as the room spun again.

"Next time," He told him,"_Don't_ let him go in our bedroom, okay?"

Marv nodded.

"Okay." He promised, "I won't do that again. I'm sorry but you didn't tell me not to let him in the bedroom, Harry. If you'd said that I wouldn't have done it."

And Harry saw the look in Marv's eyes and heard the apologetic tone in his voice.

He gave a sigh and then his voice became much softer.

"Okay, Marv. You did good. I'm happy. We'll talk about it later, I need to go to sleep."

Marv smiled.

"I know that, Harry. Let's get you to bed."

And Harry leaned on Marv again as he helped him down the hallway.

Then Harry stopped, staring at the small table that used to have his favourite piece of china on it.

"Where is it?" He wondered, then he looked up at Marv.

"WHERE IS IT?"

Marv flinched and let go of him as Harry yelled up into his face, hitting him with anger and beer breath at the same time.

"Where's what?" He said quietly.

Harry turned briefly and looked around the hallway again, making sure about this:

_But no, it was no where to be seen..._

"Something's missing, Marv!" He said angrily, glaring at him as he wondered what the hell had happened in his absence.

Marv's eyes grew wider.

He swallowed hard.

"Like what, Harry?" He said nervously.

"My vase!" He snapped, "You know, the black one with the white...what's it called..._swirly whirly shit _around it!"

Marv looked up the hallway, down the hallway and then looked back at Harry and shrugged." I don't know." He said, looking right into his eyes, _"I...haven't even seen it, I haven't lost it or broken it or anything like that..."_

And as his eyes got even wider, Harry stepped closer, right up to him, looking right up at him with anger in his eyes that made Marv feel jumpy, so jumpy it almost reminded him of the way Harry's temper used to blow up in the old days, back when they had nothing at all and had to steal to get by...

"_Lost it? Broken it?_ What are you sayin' Marv?" He demanded.

"I...um...I don't know, Harry. Why don't you go and lie down, let me help you, I know you're tired, you need to sleep-"

Marv had reached for Harry's arm but Harry pulled away sharply and glared up at him.

"I'm only gonna say this once, Marvin..." He said in a low voice, "Where _is_ my vase? WHERE IS IT?"

Marv shook his head.

"I don't know!" He said nervously, "I told you, it wasn't me!"

"Wasn't you, _what?_" Harry demanded, and Marv felt backed into a corner.

He knew Harry could have a mean temper on him when he had a few beers inside him and right now he didn't want to pick a fight by owning up - but Harry wasn't dumb, even when he was drunk he was _not _dumb and he _knew_ something had happened to that china...

"Marv," Harry said, trying to hold back his rage, "Do you remember back in the days when you and me had nothing, when we had to steal- steal so much we got sent to jail for it...can you _remember_ those days? _Those days when we used to steal the kind of stuff that we now own, we had to steal nice things and sell them to get by?_"

Marv nodded.

"Sure I do, I know where we came from, Harry! I'll _never_ forget that!"

"So you should _know _why I like nice things!" Harry fumed, "It means a lot to me that I can go out and _buy_ this kind of stuff instead of stealing it! So where _is_ my vase, Marvin?"

Harry was demanding an answer and Marv knew for sure he couldn't fool him by saying the only thing he could think of at first; the words _I don't know_ just didn't cut it with Harry, he had looked into his eyes and even drunk as he was, he knew something was wrong...he _always_ knew when he was hiding something...

"There ...um...was an accident." Marv said quietly.

Harry was still glaring at him.

"Accident? You broke my vase? My _favourite_ one? _YOU_ broke it, Marv?"

_Harry looked so angry, Harry was drunk, too..._

Marv didn't want to start him off with his temper, not while he had all that beer inside him.

"_YOU BROKE MY VASE?"_ Harry yelled, "_How stupid and clumsy are you, Marv? My vase, my five grand vase?"_

And Marv thought about it, felt a twinge of guilt but brushed it off, deciding this was _definitely_ not something he wanted Harry to blame him for, not now he saw how mad he'd got over it.

_And so he went with the only alternative idea that came to mind..._

"No Harry." He told him, "It was an accident – it got knocked over, it got broken."

"_Accident?"_ He repeated, "What kind of accident?"

Marv looked right into Harry's dark eyes and said the only thing that could get him out of trouble.

"_But it wasn't me, Harry!" _He insisted, _"I didn't break your vase - it was Kevin. He did it!"_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was getting late. Marv had ate dinner by himself and checked the heating was turned up, and then he went back into the front room where Harry was lying on his back, on the couch.

His head was tipped back and he was snoring loudly.

Marv carefully draped a blanket over him and then gave him a nudge.

_"Shut up."_ He said in a low voice.

Harry grabbed at the blanket and turned on his side, murmured something and went back to sleep, now the snoring had stopped but he was sweating and the room was taking on a smell of stale beer and he guessed Harry would probably be on the couch for the rest of the night.

Marv glanced at the coffee table and frowned as he wondered if Harry might roll off the couch; he had done that before but the coffee table hadn't been there back then and he'd landed safely on the deep, soft carpet...

Marv carefully moved the coffee table out a little, giving Harry enough room to safely roll off the couch and not hurt himself.

Then he carefully moved over the glass of water and the headache pills he'd left on the table that stood beside the couch, there was no way Harry would knock anything off there but he didn't want him stretching out and smacking his hand against the glass...

Marv carefully sat down on the edge of the couch and just stayed there for a moment, watching Harry sleeping.

Then he reached out and gently stroked his cheek, but Harry didn't wake.

Marv studied his face, smiling as he thought about how cute Harry looked when he was asleep.

Then Harry shifted position again, leaned heavier into the pillow and started to snore again, but this time softly.

"Goodnight, Harry." He said quietly, "I love you with all my heart."

Then he got up and quietly left the room, leaving Harry to sleep off the booze.

* * *

It was almost dawn when Harry woke up; he woke feeling lazy and slightly drunk and his head ached with a vague throb; he estimated the hangover wouldn't be quite as bad as the last one because this time it hadn't been too long since he'd last hit the booze and he easily slid back into _that _routine...

He sat up and pushed off the blanket, realized his shirt was damp with sweat and quickly stripped it off, tossing it to the carpet.

Then he put on the lamp beside the couch, smiling as he saw the glass of water and the aspirins; Marv always did that, he always left him with a quick hangover fix because he loved him so much he didn't even want to _think _he might have to suffer something minor like a little headache...

Harry took the pills and drank the rest of the water, then he got up, went to the bathroom and then went through to the bedroom.

Marv was on his back, sleeping soundly.

Harry watched him from the doorway and smiled, getting that warm feeling of safety that he always got when he looked around at their comfortable life and reminded himself that Marv was beside him, Marv was safe, he was warm, he was right where he wanted him to be – nothing reassured him that life was okay more than seeing Marv so warm and sleeping so soundly.

Harry felt a flicker of guilt as he thought about the way he was making Marv do his dirty work for him - he knew he guy would do anything, absolutely anything to please him, but while he got a mild thrill out of that idea at the same time his blood boiled at the thought of McCallister being on the receiving end of his affections, even though it was part of the plan.

Harry gave a sigh:

It would be better when this was over, when Kevin was crying his eyes out, he was waiting for that day just so he could tell him that actually, Marv didn't care about him at all – it had all been _his_ idea...

_Harry thought some more about Kevin McCallister._

_He thought about the guy he'd seen in the bar, then he thought about the day he bought the panda home...he could have sworn he'd seen a guy hanging around who had for a brief moment, reminded him of that kid who had put them through so much suffering so long ago._

_Maybe it was just this crazy plan he'd thought up, perhaps that was why he thought he was spotting McCallister everywhere he turned..._

_Then Harry had an idea...it was sneaky, it was bad, but it was very early in the morning and Marv would never know..._

He went back into the front room, grabbed the laptop and sat on a soft leather recliner near the window.

"I'm in one of _those_ moods again." He murmured, as he went online and signed back into the website – but this time he didn't use his Master Harry ID, this time he used his secret one, the one that Marv knew nothing about...

Harry glanced at the profile picture of his hands in black leather gloves and smiled as his gold tooth caught the first rays of the slowly breaking dawn:

_Why not?_

_Why not do it to McCallister?_

_He fitted his usual 'victim profile', he was slim, toned and in his thirties..._

_He'd get a double thrill out of it, because he hated the guy so much..._

He was in his other mode now, he was _Dark Assassin_ and just thinking about what he wanted to say made him feel excited.

Harry went over to Kevin's profile and clicked the message option.

'_Hi there.' _He wrote, _"I'm the dark Assassin. I was wondering how far you like to go. How far would you go, are you up for a no limits session with me? Have you got the guts for it? I'm into role play. I'm the bastard who breaks into your house and finds you, a cute young man aged about thirty, in bed and fast asleep. I get out some duct tape and set it down next to the bed. Then I pull out my handcuffs and then I wake you up with a gun pressed to your head, wanna know more?...Or are you too scared?'_

Then Harry paused, softly chuckling to himself.

_"Oh yeah..."_ He murmured as he typed some more:

'I like to play the evil burglar, but I won't be robbing your house until I've taken what I want from you, pretty guy. Does this light your fire? If you want to chat, I'll be online tomorrow night – but remember..."

And Harry chuckled again, knowing Marv would be in bed fast asleep before midnight because he always went to bed early, 'I won't be online till after midnight – because that's when the BIG boys come out to play, know what I mean?'

Then Harry looked intently at the screen, gathering his thoughts, a task that was becoming increasingly hard to achieve now he felt so turned on...

'P.S.' He added, 'I'm _only_ talking about doing this stuff online – I'd _never _do it in real life, just so you know that. And we can never meet, either - not in real life, because I'm not doing any crazy stuff that I could go to jail for. Also I'm in a relationship, I've been with the same guy for more than twenty five years and I wouldn't cheat on him. So it's only for _fun_, it's just a _fantasy_, okay?'

Then Harry paused again, unable to resist the urge to say one more last thing:

'_I'll be your worst nightmare come true, if you've got the guts for it...'_

Harry sent the message.

Then he signed out, deleted his browsing history and shut down the laptop.

He gave a heavy sigh.

"That shit is _too_ addictive..." He said quietly.

Then he got up and went thought the bedroom, took off the rest of his clothes and got into bed, still feeling hungover.

Marv gave a little murmur and smiled in his sleep as he slipped his arm around him and Harry thought about what he had just done and felt slightly guilty – but he soon banished that thought because the way he saw it was this:

_It wasn't as if he was fooling around in real life, it was just a bit of fun, a bit of fantasy, it was a chance for him to indulge in the kind of stuff he couldn't do with Marv – because he loved Marv and Marv would get too excited with it, he'd want it in real life, he wouldn't settle for verbal satisfaction, and there was just no way he would ever hurt Marv, not really hurt him..._

Then Harry shut his eyes, shifted closer to Marv and closed his eyes, quickly sliding back into sleep and giving in to what remained of his hangover.

* * *

Much later, when the sunlight was streaming in through the window against a sky that was rapidly starting to cloud up, Harry woke up again and felt mildly surprised to find his hangover had melted away.

He had a vague ache in his stomach and he guessed too much beer was just no good for his insides at all... but at least he didn't feel like throwing up, in fact he almost felt completely recovered now.

Marv came into the bedroom and as he looked at him his face lit up in a big smile that made Harry want to hug him instantly.

"Feeing better, Harry?" Marv asked him.

Harry smiled back at him.

"I'm a lot better this morning. Thanks for driving me home, you were right to do that - I was way too drunk, I could hardly stand up."

Marv remembered their quarrel about the vase.

"Do you recall what I said, about how Kevin fell for it?"

"Sure I do."

"_And I'm sorry he broke your vase." _Marv added, determined to reinforce the lie that he was not responsible for breaking Harry's favourite piece of china.

Harry thought about the broken vase – _and_ about the message he'd sent Kevin that Marv knew nothing about. Harry still saw that as mild, harmless fun, _anonymous _fun– but all the same, he felt more than a little guilty for doing something behind his back like that - Marv was so sweet, so trusting...

He decided to make it up to him, even though Marv had no clue as to what he had done online.

"When I get up we're going out." Harry told him, "I'm gonna give you a _big_ treat today Marv."

On hearing those words Marv's eyes lit up like an exited kid.

"What is it?" He wondered.

"Wait and see." Harry replied, "I'm not tellin' ya nothin' until we get there, okay?"

"Okay!" Marv exclaimed, still feeling excited; he knew something nice was going to happen, because it always did when Harry promised a surprise...

"Want some breakfast?" Marv offered.

"Yeah I'll have a couple of eggs and some toast – but _don't_ burn the toast, Marv."

"I won't burn it." He promised him, and then he left the room.

Just as Marv stepped out of the door, Harry stretched, and then he broke wind.

But it was _much_ louder than he expected it to be...

Marv came back through the door.

"What did you say, Harry?" He wondered, looking at him so sweetly.

"_I said your name, Marv!"_

Harry was laughing hard now.

"What?" Marv said in a trusting voice.

Harry was still laughing as he sat up.

"Come here, Marv...just come over here..."

"What?" He wondered again as he stepped closer.

_Then he sniffed the air._

As he grabbed his t shirt and pulled it up to cover his nose and mouth, Harry laughed even harder.

Marv stepped back towards the door.

"That's _not_ funny, Harry! You _stink _when you've had a beer! Next time go in the bathroom to do that!"

His voice was muffled as he kept his t shirt held to his face.

Harry's sides ached as he laughed again.

"What do ya expect me to do?" He asked him, _"Stick my ass out the window?"_

Marv let go of his t shirt as he reached the doorway.

"Yeah, I do! You _know_ I don't like your stinky beer gas! Go and stick your ass out the window, kill half of Chicago with your fart cloud – just don't get _me_ with it, okay?"

Harry was still laughing.

"Okay, Marv...sorry about that..."

"I'm going back in the kitchen." Marv said, turning away again.

Harry laughed some more.

"And _don't_ burn the toast!" He reminded him.

Then as he thought about his plans for the day, Harry got up and headed for the shower, determined to make today's outing special for Marv - even though Marv didn't know a thing about what he'd done while he was sleeping...

As the warm shower started to revive him, he shoved aside all thoughts of McCallister and his plans for revenge – _today_ _would just be about him and Marv_... then he thought about the trick he'd just played in the bedroom and as Harry recalled the look on Marv's face as he backed out of the room, he laughed again.

* * *

A short while later, the two of them set off for town.

Harry let Marv drive, warning him to take _great_ care when they reached the parking lot, because he knew Marv was a nightmare when it came to parking up close to other vehicles.

He didn't let out an easy breath until the shiny sports car was parked and the engine was switched off.

They both got out of the car and Harry pulled his thick coat tighter about himself, but then Marv put his arm around him and as he looked up at him and smiled, Harry was sure he didn't feel the cold quite so much – Marv's closeness had a way of warming him right through to his heart and that was just what he needed on a cold day like this one, when it felt cold enough to snow and with Christmas only a couple of weeks away, the shops looked bright with their seasonal displays and Harry had never felt more happy to have money in his pocket, money that he could spend on the person he loved most in the whole world...

"So where are we going, Harry?" Marv asked him as they walked along.

Harry had already spotted a big toy store on the corner of the street and he smiled as he glanced over at it.

"Over there, Marv." He said warmly, "You can have what ever you want, sweet heart!"

Marv looked at the store and then back at Harry and as his eyes lit up excitedly Harry was sure his heart skipped a beat; in that moment all he saw was sweet innocence in Marv's eyes, and it only served to remind him just how much he loved him, just how much he made his life complete.

Marv was still looking in wonder at the store.

"Toys!" He exclaimed.

Harry slipped his arm around his waist and gave him a brief squeeze.

"That's right, Marv. I'm taking you to the toy store!"

Then he walked with Marv to the end of the street, and as they waited to cross the busy road, Harry grabbed hold of his gloved hand, just to make sure Marv didn't dash across the street impulsively like an excited kid, because he had that look in his eyes that said he just wanted to _be there_, and be there _right now_...

* * *

After more than an hour of pushing through the busy store and getting slightly irate about how crowded the place was, Harry finally got his smile back when Marv stopped trying out toys and finally chose what he wanted – another luxury train set.

As Harry paid with his credit card, Marv had a huge grin on his face.

"Thanks, Harry." He said, "Thank you for my train set."

"That's okay, Marv." He told him, then finished making the transaction and then gave his details for the delivery – because that train set was too big and heavy to carry back to the car and he didn't want to risk Marv carrying it with him in case the clumsy guy dropped it...

Then Harry turned away from the counter and looked around: _Where was Marv?_

He'd been standing right beside him a minute ago, and now he was gone...

Harry looked around the busy store, hoping it wouldn't be hard to spot a tall, curly haired guy amongst the sea of shoppers...

_Then he spotted him._

Harry gave sigh and headed over to the long queue of people who were waiting beside a sign that said _Santa's Grotto._

He walked up to Marv and tapped him on the shoulder.

Marv turned around and still had a happy look on his face.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked him.

"Waiting to go in the grotto." Marv replied.

Harry glanced down the line of people queuing up: _They were all parents with kids...and here was Marv, on his own at the back of the queue..._

"Marv," He said, lowering his voice, "You can't go and see Santa Claus. You're too big."

As Marv thought about it his smile faded. But he glanced around and then he spotted something else and quick as a flash his smile was back as he pointed at the sign.

Harry read it too and he chuckled.

"Okay, Marv – let's go out the back of the store and meet the reindeer!"

Marv led the way and when they got outside, here the queue was smaller and moving along faster.

When it was Marv's turn to go into the pen and meet the reindeer, Harry got his phone out and just as Marv reached out to stroke it, he took a picture, capturing the thrilled expression on Marv's face.

Then Marv turned to the young woman who was in charge of the reindeer and dressed like an elf.

"This is a _proper_ reindeer?" He wondered.

The woman nodded, looking slightly confused.

"Actually one of Santa's _real_ reindeers?" He asked her.

And the woman looked even more confused.

"_Santa's_ reindeers?" She repeated.

Then she caught Harry giving her a quick nod and she looked back and noticed the slightly vacant expression in Marv's eyes and she smiled kindly at him.

"Yes it is." She promised him, "This _is_ one of Santa's reindeers."

"Wow!" Marv said, and Harry just wanted to grab him and squeeze him and never let him go, but instead he tapped his arm and told him it was time to go home.

They left the store and headed back to the car, and all the way home, Marv talked about the reindeer.

* * *

Later, once they were back home in their warm and comfortable apartment, they had dinner, then watched TV, then Marv laid back on the sofa while Harry sat with him, watching a movie while he thoughtfully twirled a lock of his curly hair around his fingers.

"Are you gonna pull my hair?" Marv wondered.

Harry laughed.

"Do ya want me to?"

Marv lifted his head from Harry's chest; Harry had his shirt open and Marv had been happy just to lay there, partly watching the movie and partly soothed into a half sleep mode by the way Harry's shirt was unbuttoned all the way down and he'd kept his ear pressed against his chest, warm against his skin, listening to the sound of his heart beat.

"No." He said, and Harry was sure he meant that – Marv didn't like his hair messed about with, because he made too much of a fuss over it every day, he'd always made a fuss over his hair...

"What would you like me to do?" Harry wondered.

A sparkled came to Marv's eyes at once.

"Can I make you feel special, Harry?"

Harry gave a sigh and sat up as Marv climbed off the couch.

"Go on then; I know you wanna do it." He said in an understanding voice.

As he sat there on the sofa, Marv got on his knees on the carpet and looked up at him adoringly.

"I love you." He said to him, "I love and worship you..."

"I know you do." Harry said tenderly, reaching out and gently stroking his hair, "I know you love me..."

And Marv started to kiss up his body, while Harry lay back and enjoyed his attention.

After his kisses became lower and more intimate, Harry had savoured every last moment of it, then when it was over he held him in his arms once more.

Harry started to stroke his hair again, holding him gently, thinking about what they had just done: Marv _liked_ to ask permission, liked to be treated in that way sometimes, and Harry knew how to make him happy, even as far as spanking him...

_He knew Marv would go further if he wanted him to._

But the truth was, he _couldn't _hurt Marv. The closest he had ever come to really hurting him was in the pretend games they played sometimes that went no further than verbalising his fantasises. He loved him too much and he just didn't _want _to do it, and the more he thought about that, the more he felt guilty for making him flirt with McCallister.

_He knew Marv would rather be here at home like this, wrapped in his arms..._

Harry gave a sigh and guessed that it wouldn't take long to punish Kevin if their little plan carried on working. _And as for the online fun he had planned for later on, when Marv was asleep, why not McCallister? The bastard certainly owed him for breaking his five grand vase..._

Then Harry thought no more about it and carried on toying with Marv's hair as they relaxed together and watched the rest of the movie.

* * *

Kevin had guessed that Marv would not be online that night because he remembered what he had said about Harry, and then he had seen how drunk the guy had been, but all the same, when it grew dark and the day slipped away into nightfall, Kevin waited until it got later and then went over to the website, just in case Marv had left him a message.

_There was a message waiting for him, but it wasn't from Marv..._

"Dark Assassin?" He said, feeling amused.

_Then he read the message._

When he got to the part about _big boys only coming out to play after midnight_, he laughed.

"_That means you're with someone..."_ He remarked cynically, then he read the message again and he smiled as the word _burglar _caught his eye...

It was just gone midnight by now, and Kevin laughed as he felt a thrill shoot through him and he hit Dark Assassin on the chat box.

He was still smiling as he typed the message: Ever since the days back when he'd got a thrill punishing the Wet Bandits he'd never forgot that sense power he got over the way those guys reacted to his booby traps...as he'd got older and grown up those experiences had turned, in his mind, into something else that he liked to have fun with...

_Yes, he'd still get a thrill over baiting a burglar, but now of course, in a different way. _

_This guy wanted to role play?_

_He was certainly going to get it, but not in the way he expected..._

'Here I am,' Kevin typed, 'Wanna tell me a bit about yourself before we play?'

There was a pause.

Then the reply came up:

'Seriously? You wanna play?'

'Sure I do.' Kevin typed back with a sly smile on his face; the web was a big place and he was guessing this was just a coincidence that some guy wanted to play sadistic burglar with him, but he knew this was going to be fun...

Kevin laughed softly and typed again:

'You don't do this stuff in real life?'

'No way.' The reply came back, 'I'm a fantasy man only, I'm _not_ crazy!'

Then there was a pause, and Dark Assassin replied again:

'Bit about me – I'm in my sixties, I'm in good shape, I got a nice comfortable life too. I'm a gay male, I've had the same partner for more than twenty five years, I wouldn't play this shit with him because...well I love him too much and he might want to take it too far... I don't want him to know I can be a bit of a sicko. '(wink).

'Ha Ha.' Kevin replied.

Then he wrote something else:

'How come your partner likes to go too far, then?'

There was a pause, then a quickly typed, but eloquent response came back:

'It's a psychological thing. Most fetishes have their roots way back in early life experience and that's just the case with my partner. He had a bad childhood, his parents used to beat him, so he grew up looking for a guy who would hurt him – but in a consensual, _controlled_ way. That way he can act out something that used to scare him, but now he's doing it on a pleasurable level with me, the guy who loves him and to him that's okay, that's rewarding, because he knows there's no _real_ threat. Get what I mean?'

Kevin laughed again, thinking about his own preference for baiting burglars.

'Sure I do. Let's play!'

'So shall I start in the bedroom?' Dark Assassin asked him, 'I could climb through your open window, it's a warm night and you're sleeping on top of the bed and I know soon you will be feeling the pain I am going to inflict upon you –''

'No.' He typed.

Kevin laughed as he the reply came back:

'_No?'_

'I'm upstairs asleep, _think _about it..._I'm this hot guy upstairs and I don't know you're there. But the neighbourhood has had a lot of break ins lately and I've beefed up my home security So you'll have to break in first, then you can come up and get me. If you can get through my security measures, I'm the prize!_'

'I like that!' Dark Assassin said, 'Let's do it!'

Then he typed again, 'Okay, I'm outside your house. I've been hanging around and now it's dark and I know you're sleeping. I use my crow bar to lever open the window –'

And Kevin laughed again as he sent the message:

'_No, it's nailed shut. All my windows are nailed shut.'_

'Okay,' the reply came back, 'I go around to the back door.'

Kevin laughed again, for a moment he put his hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter in case he got too loud and his parents wondered what was going on so late at night...

"Oh boy this is funny!" Kevin said, typing his reply:

'_The back door is made of reinforced steel. You can not break through it.'_

There was a long pause.

'Okay,' Dark Assassin said, 'I'll try the _front_ door...'

And Kevin replied:

'_You find it open, come inside.'_

_The reply came back fast:_

'I am now in your house and soon you will be feeling the cold steel of my gun pressed to your head while I put duct tape over your mouth. Then you will be in for a night of pain - '

Kevin laughed even harder.

"_I don't think so."_ He said as he started to type.

Then he sent the message:

'_Unlucky. There is a blow torch rigged up to the top of the front door, and you just tripped it! As your head blazes on fire you run out into the street screaming, I wake up and look out of my window and see you, a burglar, on fire, way across the street rolling in the grass trying to put out the flames. I call the cops, you are now busted. Ha Ha!'_

A reply came back with lightening speed:

_"YOU'RE SICK!"_

Then as Dark Assassin signed out, Kevin shut off the lap top, laughed again in the darkened bedroom and then settled down for a good night's sleep.

* * *

Back at his apartment, Harry Lyme, who had been planning a very different ending to the scenario, was still sitting there by the window, wearing an open bathrobe as he glared angrily at the laptop.

"That little creep booby trapped me again?" He fumed, _"Online?"_

Then the light snapped on and he saw Marv standing in the doorway.

Harry grabbed the lid of the slender, lightweight laptop and shut it down.

Then he gave a yelp of pain, lifting the lid and grabbing at his crotch.

"_Why did you make me jump like that?" _Harry snapped, still clutching at his crotch.

Marv blinked sleepy eyes as he looked back at him in confusion_._

"_Why did you shut your dick in the laptop, Harry?" _He wondered.

"It was an accident." Harry said, turning off the lap top and setting it down on the table.

He got up and followed Marv out of the room.

"Does it still hurt?" Marv asked him.

Harry was still fuming over Kevin's trap – and because of it, he'd managed to cause him physical pain, even from his side of the keyboard...

"No, I'm okay." He promised him as they headed towards the bedroom.

Harry pushed aside all thoughts of how much he hated McCallister, right now, _everything_ could wait until morning...

"I'm tired, Marv." He said, "Lets just go to bed..."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In the back room there was now a large, detailed railway track. Marv sat at the big table and watched with glee as the train sped around the track.

"_Under the bridge!"_ He said excitedly, _"Go, train go!"_

And the locomotive sped along the shiny track and through the bridge, and then it climbed a grassy slope and went down the other side of the hill. He watched as it sped past the station where miniature people waited, and then it turned the corner and went up across the rest of the track. It was a huge lay out; it spread across the room, where on the other side of the table the train passed a small village and went through another bridge.

"_Marv!"_

He heard Harry call him and he gave a sigh, and switched off the power as the train came to a halt just before the station once more.

"What, Harry?" He called back.

"Get in here." Harry's voice drifted back.

Marv reluctantly got up and left the room, went down the hall and back into the front room where Harry was on the sofa with his feet up.

He had been studying the laptop.

"You've got another message from McCallister." He told him, "He's asked if you wanna meet up again soon. I think you should - I want you to get this plan of ours moving along. I want you to get him over here tomorrow and tell him you've really missed him. Be laid up in bed because you're hurting so much, give him lots of hugs and kisses."

Marv frowned.

"But I thought you said he's not allowed in the bedroom?"

"I changed my mind." Harry said sharply, "I want that little creep to start falling in love with you. The sooner he does that, the sooner we can break his heart. I want this over and done with and I think you do too."

And as Harry looked into Marv's eyes he knew he was right; Marv had been happy all day since his train set had arrived, but now he looked anxious and Harry didn't like to see a trace of worry in Marv's eyes, especially as he knew the reason for that worry was because of his plan...

"Okay." Marv said slowly "I'll do it. What do I say to him?"

"_Tell him you want to run away with him, tell him you're falling in love with him."_

Marv's eyes widened.

"What? You mean I've got to say all that stuff to him? That's difficult, Harry. I don't love him. I love _you_."

Harry gave a weary sigh.

"Marv," He said, fixing him with a determined look, "This is a _game_. You're _lying_, it's _not_ true. Just do what I say, okay?"

Marv nodded.

"I'll do it." He said quietly.

Then Harry smiled and his gold tooth sparkled.

"I've got another surprise for ya!" He said warmly, needing to see Marv's eyes light up again because he'd just seen so much reluctance reflected there.

Marv's eyes _did _light up as he heard him say those words.

"What is it?" He wondered.

"Go in the kitchen, open the cupboard above the microwave. ..."

"Okay!"

Marv dashed out of the room.

Harry waited and listened.

The Marv shouted: "_Microwave popcorn! Oh great, I can watch the bag go fat!"_

And Harry laughed, thinking it sometimes took such little things to please Marv but every time he made him happy, it still made his heart glow, even after all these years...

* * *

Later on, as Marv sat beside Harry, he watched as Harry's fingers moved quickly and accurately over the keyboard as he began to spell out his message.

"Pay attention, Marv."He said to him, "I'm telling Kevin that you've missed him a lot, you _really_ want to see him again. I've told him you've got feelings for him."

And he sent the message.

There was a long pause.

Then Kevin began to type and a reply came back:

'I've thought about you a lot, Marv. I guess this isn't an ideal situation because you're with Harry but I'll see you again, I want to.'

Harry chuckled.

"He's fallen for it!" He remarked, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction to get one over on him, especially after the way he'd tricked him on his burglar role play game...

Then Harry wrote another message:

'Can you come and see me tomorrow, Kevin? I know you don't want to keep having time off work but my back's been so sore and stiff I can barely move. I've been in bed since yesterday, I can't get up. It's so painful I've been crying over it. On days like this, on bad days, I see no point my life. I feel so down.'

"That ought to do the trick." Harry said in a crafty voice, then he sent the message.

Kevin started typing at once.

'I'll come over tomorrow morning. I shouldn't really have the time off work but there's no way I could leave you feeling like that, Marv. Of course I'll see you!'

And Kevin had added that he liked him too, he liked him a _lot_ and he wanted him to know that – and he had signed off with two kisses.

Harry chuckled.

_"Sucker!"_ He said as Kevin signed out.

And then he looked at Marv, who had that nervous, unsure expression on his face once more.

"This is easy!" He reassured him, "Nothin' to it, Marv! Just make him feel sorry for ya, _really_ go for it! Make him care about you, tell him you love him."

Marv's eyes widened.

"What if he wants to take things further?" He wondered, "I...I mean, I don't mind kissing and hugging but other stuff...I'm _yours_ Harry, I don't wanna do other stuff with him – he's the guy who hurt us and got us sent to jail!"

Harry smiled and shook his head; Marv just wasn't thinking clearly about this.

"_Think _about it Marv – he thinks you can't walk. He thinks you're in a wheelchair. Tell him you can't _do_ other stuff any more. Tall him you wish that you could, but sometimes you're in constant pain. Cry, get upset, tell him you just want his arms around you. Tell him you want to leave me and you're planning on doing it on Christmas Eve."

Marv's eyes widened like saucers and his voice choked up.

"_I wouldn't leave you, not ever –"_

Harry put his hand on his arm and gave a weary sigh.

"I _know_ that, Marv! It's _pretend_, okay? Just tell him that. Tell him you want somewhere to stay, that you want to be with him – he'll help you out, there's no chance he'll say no to that!"

And then Harry reached up and brushed a tear from Marv's cheek.

"Oh you silly guy! You're getting upset over nothing at all, Marv! We won't even be here on Christmas Eve - we're leaving the day before, I'm taking you away for Christmas. But I can't tell you where, it's a surprise!"

Now Marv was smiling again.

"_Really?"_

Harry nodded and his eyes sparkled.

"You and me will have a wonderful Christmas together, sweet heart. And by then we'll be laughing while McCallister's cryin'! He'll live to regret the day he _ever _messed with us, you can be sure of that!"

And Marv caught a crafty sparkle in his eyes.

"Is there more to this?" He wondered.

Harry glanced around the apartment and then looked back at Marv.

That crafty look was still in his eyes.

"Oh yes indeed there is, Marvin. But I won't tell you the rest until the last minute – I don't want to spoil the surprise!"

And finally Marv's eyes lit up too.

"Sounds like its going to be a good one, Harry!"

And Harry laughed.

"Oh yeah." He said darkly, "It's going to be a _very_ good one, I promise you that..."

Marv thought some more about the instructions Harry had given him.

"I feel a bit uneasy about this, Harry." He told him, "It feels like such a lot to do – and I'm all on my own with it."

"Not _this_ time." Harry said with big smile on his face that made the light catch his gold tooth, _"This time I'm gonna be right here in the apartment!"_

Marv blinked, then stared at him.

"But if you're here, Kevin won't make a move on me..."

"No, Marv. He won't know I'm here. _I'm gonna hide_."

And Marv smiled too.

"Hide! That's a good idea..."

Then his smile faded and he looked at Harry with utter confusion in his eyes.

"Hide where?"

Harry looked at him smugly, and gestured across the room.

Marv's eyes grew wider.

"In the _aquarium?_ Its got water and fish and he'll see you through the glass!"

Harry resisted the urge to yell at Marv.

"_Not_ the aquarium, you dozy guy! I'm talking about over there, in the corner. All I have to do is get behind the couch and move the panda up against it and he'll never know I'm there, I'll be able to hear that sucker fall for everything you say to him!"

Marv looked over at the sofa and the giant toy panda beside it.

"What if he moves the panda?"

Harry gave a sigh.

Now his patience was starting to wear thin.

"Moves the panda? _Moves the panda?_ Why the fuck would he _move _the panda? He's coming over to see _you_, Marv - he's _not_ coming over to play with your toys!"

And Marv nodded.

"Okay." He said quietly, "I guess he won't move the panda..."

"Just trust me." Harry said to him, "You'll feel better for me being here, won't you?"

Marv smiled because he wanted Harry to feel happy with him, but inside he felt like all his nerves had been shaken up so badly they were still jangling – he'd come so close to messing the whole thing up by saying way too much and letting things slip the last time Kevin was here, he knew he would probably make many more mistakes next time purely because he'd be so nervous about slipping up, because Harry would hear _every_ word he said...

Harry had spotted the doubtful look in his eyes.

"Don't worry Marv!" He told him confidently, "I've been talking to him all the time, I've been making out that I'm you _every_ single night. The guy is falling for you, he can't get enough of you! It'll be okay, you can do this!"

"Sure I can!" Marv said enthusiastically, purely to please Harry. But as he spoke he wished he _really_ felt as confident as he sounded...

* * *

Next morning Marv was sure he would have a headache before Kevin turned up – Harry told him over and over, repeating the instructions until he was sick of hearing it.

"I know what to do!" He'd snapped "I'm not stupid!"

Harry just looked at him in mild surprise.

"Yes you are, Marv" He stated, "You _are_ stupid! _Now get hold of that panda!_"

Marv had grabbed the panda and pulled it forward.

Then Harry got down on his hands and knees and crawled behind the sofa.

"You can put it back –"

The panda's furry back slammed up against his face, sending Harry backwards onto the carpet in the tight space between the sofa and the wall.

"MARV!" He yelled sharply, _"Move it!"_

"Move _what?_" Marv wondered.

"The _panda,_ you idiot! I can't even sit up, it's squashing me!"

"Sorry!" Marv exclaimed, sliding the panda forward a fraction.

Then he peered over the sofa and Harry looked up at him from where he was hiding behind it.

"I'm okay Marv." He told him, "Now go and lie down. Don't take your clothes off, just lie on top of the bed and -"

"I know what to do!" Marv said quickly, "Don't tell me again!"

"_Don't mess this up."_

Marv heard Harry's voice darken and he was sure the look in his eyes had darkened too, even though he couldn't see him because he was hidden by the sofa and the panda.

"I won't." He said quietly, and then as he heard the buzzer, he went down the hall and pressed a button, then he left the door unlocked and went through to the bedroom and waited for Kevin to arrive.

* * *

Harry shifted forward a little, tugged down the panda's arm and peeked out of the gap: from here he could see through the open doorway, all the way down to the hall, right up to the front door. He suddenly wondered if they should have moved the panda to the bedroom, then it would have been much easier for him to see AND hear everything that went on...

_Suddenly Harry had a better idea._

He pushed the panda, crawled out and shoved it back in place, then hurried into the bedroom.

Marv sat up and stared at him.

"I thought you wanted to wait in the front room?"

"It seemed like the best place to hide but then I realized most of the talking will be done in here so I had a change of plan."

_"What change of plan? "_

Marv's eyes grew even wider as Harry dropped to his hands and knees and pushed the sheet aside and crawled under the bed.

Then he chuckled.

"There ya go, Marv –I'm right beside ya! And I'll get to see and hear _everything_ that goes on!"

And Harry tugged down the cover and hid, while Marv felt a flutter of panic all over again.

From under the bed, he heard Harry chuckle again.

"I'm gonna get a _real_ kick out of this, Marv!" He said darkly.

And Marv guessed he probably would; Harry loved to sneak around and spy and watch other people.

Knowing that made him feel even more worried, he was _too _nervous now, he was bound to screw up...

Then he heard the door close quietly.

"He's here, Marv!" Harry whispered from beneath the bed, "Just it like I told you to..."

"Okay." Marv said and his voice was barely above a whisper because he felt like his stomach was in knots.

As Kevin walked through the bedroom door, he smiled at Marv.

"It's so good to see you again!" He said warmly, sitting down on the bed and giving him a hug.

Beneath the bed, Harry listened carefully, not wanting to miss any of this getting played out so well... Then the mattress creaked as Kevin sat down on it properly, and Harry shifted over a little, looking upwards and glaring at the sagging bottom of the mattress above his head.

"_Bundle of misery!"_ He said under his breath.

Marv looked into Kevin's eyes and smiled.

"I feel so much better now you're here, Kevin. I know it sounds crazy but I've missed you."

"I feel the same way." Kevin told him, "All that stuff you told me online..."

Marv hoped the panic didn't show in his eyes as he recalled all the long hours Harry had spent online pretending to be him; half the time he hadn't even paid attention to the conversations...

"Oh yeah, I know." Was all felt he could say.

But Kevin was on the bed beside him now and he put his arm around him.

"I meant what I said. I know it's crazy but all our conversations, it makes me feel like I know you so well, like I've known you forever."

And Marv looked into his eyes and smiled again.

"I...I think..." he paused.

Then he felt a dig in his back from beneath the mattress.

_"Ouch."_ He said.

Kevin put his arms around him tighter and gave him a hug.

"Oh you poor guy, you must hate being stuck in bed like this!"

"Well it gets lonely. And I...I. wanted to say..."

Marv winced as he got another jab in his back from beneath the bed ad he understood now; Harry was telling him to_ just get on with it..._

He took a deep breath.

"Kevin I want to get away from him. I want to leave Harry and I want to do it on Christmas Eve. Will you help me?"

Beneath the bed, Harry listened intently.

Kevin's answer came back quickly:

"I'd love to help you do that, Marv. Maybe if I tell my folks you're an old friend you can come and stay with me." His voice softened. "Actually, I wouldn't want you to be anywhere else."

And Harry quietly chuckled, feeling sure his plan was working now...

"_I...I know this is crazy but I think I love you."_ Marv said, and then he started to cry.

As Harry heard Marv sobbing he felt a deep pain of regret because he knew that was the last thing Marv had _ever_ wanted to say to another guy – especially not to the guy who had put them both through so much misery _and _got them sent to jail twice, too...

Kevin stared at Marv for a moment as he took in his words.

He hadn't expected _this_ to be said so soon, but it didn't come quite as much of the shock he had expected: They spoke every night online, Marv poured his heart out to him and if he was honest with himself, he needed Marv too. He liked the guy, he cared about him and he knew his feelings were deepening but he hadn't wanted to think about that so much at this early stage...

_But love happened fast sometimes, didn't it? _

_He wasn't about to turn down this chance just because things had moved along so quickly._

_All he had to do was look into Marv's blue eyes and he knew for sure that his heart missed a beat and he wanted his arms around him..._

It didn't matter that Marv lived a comfortable life with Harry; Marv had an unhappy life and he knew in his heart he cared enough about the guy to try and get him a life that was so much happier, he wanted to see Marv happy –more than that, _he_ wanted to be the guy who made Marv happy...

"I love you too, Marv." Kevin said softly, deciding to follow his heart.

He held onto him and gave him gentle kisses as he wiped tears from Marv's face.

"Tell me more about why you're leaving on Christmas Eve."

Marv frowned. Harry hadn't told him that part...

"Well..." He said, feeling sure he could feel the wheels in his head slowly, slowly grinding around as his thought processes began to move along, "Harry's going away for a few days. That's why I want to go on Christmas Eve, I want to leave when he's not here- in case he gets mad. If he gets mad, he might..."

"Hit you?" Kevin wondered.

A spike of excitement ran through Marv's body that he tried to disguise as he thought of that scenario and he looked down at the bed, avoiding Kevin's gaze.

"Oh yeah, he'd get real mad. I tried to leave him once before..."

From under the bed, Harry was listening.

"_No you didn't."_ He whispered, then he gave a sigh as he heard the excited tone creep into Marv's voice..._Oh no, the guy was going into bondage fantasy mode again..._

"And he grabbed hold of me and _slapped_ me!" Marv said, "Then he dragged me through to the bedroom and pulled my pants down, pulled my underwear down and spanked me with a hairbrush! Then he got his cell phone out and took a picture!"

"That's bad." Kevin said, and really said it like he felt sorry for him.

Marv was still looking away as he wished it all was true and he smiled and his eyes briefly lit up.

"Oh yeah, that _IS _bad..."He murmured.

Then he felt his erection start to ache and he shifted position, looking back at Kevin with wide eyes.

"I don't like the way he treats me, Kevin. I hope _you_ wouldn't treat me like that!"

Kevin held him gently in his arms and stroked his curly hair.

"Marv" He promised him, "If it was up to me you'd never be treated mean ever again, never in your whole life. I'll show you how you deserve to be treated. You need love and respect."

And then he kissed him.

Marv lost himself in the kiss for a moment, and then pulled back as Kevin's hand wandered down to his belt.

"Better not. I'm hurting today. And with the kind of problems I get I'm sort of limited anyway, I can't do all the things I used to do."

Kevin was still looking into his eyes.

He felt an ache in his heart and more regret than he could measure as he thought about all the cruel traps and painful injuries he had caused Marv Merchants back in the days when he was a burglar.

"It's crazy, " Kevin told him, "The more I know now, the more I feel for you, the more I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and do things differently. I never realized when I was a kid; I never realized the kind of damage I could have caused to either of you guys. I mean, some of the stuff I did – especially the second time in New York –I could have _killed _you, Marv! _I could have killed you_..."

And Harry's face lit up in a smile that flashed his gold tooth..._McCallister was crying?_

He listened some more.

"I'm so sorry, Marv. If being with you now makes up for that, I'll be with you. Harry won't know where you've gone; he doesn't even know we've met. You'll be free of him, you can be with me."

And Marv lay there in Kevin's arms forcing a smile as he felt so very uncomfortable, wishing he could just get out of his arms, have him walk out of the door so that Harry could come out from his hiding place, because this situation was making him feel trapped.

"Don't cry Kevin." Marv said softly, "You were just a kid. You didn't know your nasty pranks would leave me in pain and crippled for life."

And Kevin sobbed even harder.

"I'm not mad at you." Marv said, holding onto him, "I _love_ you."

"I love you too," Kevin said quietly, as he began to calm down now, "I don't think I ever expected to feel like this so fast but when I first saw you all I wanted to do was hold you. I want to hold you all the time. Let's just lay here together for a while, shall we?"

"That's a good idea." Marv replied.

And from under the bed, Harry Lyme smiled as his eyes sparkled:

_Yes, the plan was working well..._

Harry hid under the bed for more than two hours until his aching joints began to threaten to size up and he got sick of shifting in to awkward positions while Kevin made small talk with Marv.

Finally he took his phone from his pocket and sent Marv a text message to break up this cosy chat they were sharing.

As the phone went off Marv took it from his pocket, still lying on the bed and propped up against soft pillows. He frowned as he read the message all mixed up because of Harry's broken space key:

'_Onway home rightnow.'_

Marv frowned,

"On way home?" He said in confusion, _"Harry's not on the way home- how can he be, he's under the –"_  
Another sharp dig landed in his back from under the mattress, and the pain made him clutch at his back but at least Harry had stopped him saying way too much again...

Kevin sat up and looked at Marv with concern in is eyes.

"Do you need to take anything for that, you're really in pain, Marv!"

He shook his head.

"No, there's not much anyone can do for me. I just have to rest when it gets this bad."

Kevin had got up now.

"I'd better get going." He told him, the he thought about what Marv had just said.

"What were you about to say about Harry?"

Marv looked back at him blankly.

"Nothing."

"No, you said he couldn't be at work because he was under the...under what, Marv?"

"The...weather!" Marv exclaimed, proud of his own slow but smart enough to fit reply, "He's under the weather he feels lousy. I think he's got a bit of a hangover. He said he's coming home because he feels lousy."

And then he gave a sigh of relief.

But Kevin didn't spot that; _Harry Lyme was on his way home?_

He leaned over and gave Marv a kiss, then he hugged him.

"Don't worry about anything, Marv." He said, "You've got me now. I'll be in touch soon, okay?"

Marv smiled.

"I can't wait already." He promised him, then Kevin left the bedroom and Harry crawled out from under the bed, got up stiffly and peeked out the door, just in time to see Kevin close it behind him.

* * *

Harry stretched and cussed under his breath as his aches and pains seemed to scream at him after all the time he had been hunched up beneath the bed.

"Are you okay Harry?" Marv wondered as he got up too.

Harry looked up at Marv with love glowing in his eyes.

"That was _perfect!_" He exclaimed, "Come here, Marvin!"

And Marv leaned closer, and the kiss that Harry gave him felt so good it cancelled out all the feelings of discomfort he had just been through playing along with this game that he had come to hate so very much...

* * *

Kevin McCallister drove home with a smile on his face: He had never expected to fall in love with Marv but it was happening, and as he thought about it, he guessed it would soon be time to tell his parents he waited him to move in. He would explain that Marv had a partner who mistreated him, that he and Kevin had fallen in love, that Marv needed a place to stay. He'd also tell them about his disability, too...

His parents had known he was gay for many years and they were fine about it._ They wouldn't have been so fine about his choice of partner if they'd known Marv Merchants was one of the Wet Bandits who had broken into the Murphy's house so long ago. But they knew nothing about his involvement with the burglars, so there would be no reason for them to be against the idea..._

He smiled as he thought about the irony of the situation: he could still remember the glee he'd felt at Marv falling for his traps...the nail through his foot, the Christmas ornaments that he'd stepped on, the iron that had hit him in the face...but now things had changed: _He wanted to love and protect the guy, he wanted to kiss him every day and with every kiss he would tell him how sorry he was for the pain he put him through so very long ago._

_He wanted to make it up to him._

_He wanted to make him happy._

He knew it for sure now, it was true that love could be found in unexpected places - that had _certainly_ been true for him because here he was, in love with one of the guys who had once broken into his home back when he was a kid, and he wouldn't have it any other way because Marv was sweet, Marv deserved love – and he was going to treat him so well that guy would _finally_ understand what it meant to be loved..._yes, that was what he wanted to do for Marv..._

* * *

Harry laughed as he gave Marv a big hug.

"_We've done it!"_ He exclaimed, "Now all we have to do is get him over here in two weeks time."

"But he'll want to come over before then." Marv pointed out.

Harry was still smiling as he looked up at him.

"No, Marv! He won't do that – because I'm going to pretend to be you again and chat with him online. I'm going to say that Harry's got flu, he's real sick and he needs you to look after him. He's going to be sick for more than a week, it's bad..."

Marv frowned.

"But _I_ was laid up in bed..."

"So you just _happened_ to get up and find you're having a better day now, okay? This is good - because now he'll think you're looking after me. So he won't even _try_ and come by the apartment until he thinks I'm better and out of the way again. I'll keep up the online chats every night just to keep him feeling loved up, and then we invite him over on Christmas Eve!"

And Harry chuckled as his eyes sparkled.

"He'll think he's coming to take you home with him...but he's gonna get a _big_ surprise!"

Marv was keen to know what the surprise would be, but as he asked him again Harry just gave him a secret smile.

"Let's just say its payback, Marv." He told him with a wink, _"Payback..."_

* * *

As it grew dark, Marv glanced at the closed laptop and wondered if Harry would send a message to Kevin.

Then he picked it up- but just as he sat down on the bed, Harry got in beside him and snatched it out of his hands.

"_No!"_ He said in the tone of voice more suited to chastising a child, "You're _not_ fooling around sending him messages! Leave him for tonight_, I'll_ message him tomorrow using your ID and say you're stuck looking after Harry. Leave him alone tonight –I'm sick, you have no time to message him, have you got that?"

Marv thought about it.

"That _does_ make sense, Harry!"

Harry smiled as he rolled over and took Marv in his arms.

"So," Marv said, looking up at him with a dark sparkle in his eyes that Harry had long ago come to recognise, "I did good today so what's my reward?"

Harry chuckled and pulled open a drawer beside the bed, then took out one of his silken ties.

Marv's eyes were filled with excitement.

"What are you gonna do, Harry?"

Harry said nothing; he just wrapped the tie around his wrists and then tied it to the back of the bed.

Then a look of amusement came to Harry's eyes.

He ran his hands down Marv's bare chest and then tugged the covers off him roughly.

"I'm gonna have a little bit of fun now." Harry said, playfully wiggling his fingers at him.

Marv realized what he was about to do and his eyes grew wider as he struggled.

"_NO!"_ He yelled, _"No tickles, not tickles! No I hate it, no tickles, Harry!"_

Harry chuckled darkly, slid his hands down his body, resting his fingers just below his ribs, and began to tickle him, laughing as Marv gasped and struggled helplessly.

"I don't like it!" He managed to say, then his breath was gone again and Harry continued to tickle him.

Finally he stopped, when Marv's face was red and he had given up protesting about being tickled.

"Okay?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah..." Marv said weakly.

"What did you say?" Harry asked him, stroking his damp hair.

"Yes _Master_." Marv replied, getting his breath back.

The he untied him and rolled him onto his front.

Marv was so weak from fighting the tickle torture that he just rolled and stayed there, ready for Harry.

As Harry put his arms around him and he felt the weight of him on top of him, Marv gave a sigh.

"I love you Marv." Harry whispered.

"_I love...you ...too!"_ He gasped as Harry began to move against him.

Marv reached out with his now free hands and grabbed hold of the back of the bed.

When Harry finally cried out with the intensity of the pleasure that shot through him, Marv caught his breath, and then fell limp on to the mattress, needing the soft pillow to sink into, needing this comfort to recover from what had just happened.

Harry was beside him now and he turned him over and looked into his eyes.

"Was that rough enough for ya, Marv?" He asked in a tender voice; all of his aggression had been spent now.

Marv moved closer to Harry and looked into his eyes. His face was still flushed from their lovemaking.

"Oh yeah, that was great, Harry!" He promised him, but then he saw a flicker of annoyance in his eyes.

"_But don't tickle me again, you know I hate it!"_

Harry turned on his back and laughed.

"I was just fooling around! At least I get to treat you the way you wanna be treated- at least I gave you some torture, even if it was only tickling. Ill bet boring McCallister wouldn't do stuff like that for you!"

"I'll bet he wouldn't." Marv said, "He told me he wants to be _nice_ to me."

Marv realized too late he shouldn't have said that; Harry's eyes were filled with jealousy now.

"Are you saying you _WANT_ McCallister?" He fumed.

Marv blinked tears from his eyes.

"No, Harry, I was just meaning, _don't_ tickle me because I _hate_ it!"

Harry looked closely into Marv's eyes

"You're sure that's what you meant? That's _all_ you meant?"

Marv stared at him.

"_Yes Harry!_ I don't WANT McCallister – love _you!_ Now please don't get jealous and paranoid; this game with me flirting with him was your idea not mine and I'll be glad when it's over!"

As he looked back at him, Harry knew for sure he was right about that –_Marv really didn't want to play along with his little plan at all..._

The look in Harry's eyes softened and he pulled him closer.

"Okay, I believe you." He said as he held him, and in his heart he _did_ believe him, because in this world he only had one guy he could trust and he was right here beside him...

He put it down to his own insecurities because the love he had for Marv was so deep he swore it sometimes took him over the borderline and into a form of craziness, but he knew for sure he couldn't even _imagine _a day coming in his life when he could no longer trust Marv Merchants...


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kevin's parents were talking about getting their bedroom redecorated.

Kevin wasn't really listening because his thoughts were with a man who he only had to think of and he started smiling:

_He knew it for sure; he was falling in love with Marv..._

As he sat at the table after dinner and finished a cup of coffee, his mother walked out of the room and conversation drifted back from beyond the dining room and they were still talking about wallpaper.

Kevin let his mind drift as he thought about Marv:

_It didn't matter now; the past didn't even come into it._

Sure, he could look around this house and transport himself back in time to the days when he'd accidentally been left alone at home and two burglars had tried to break in, but every time he thought about it, now all he felt was guilt.

It broke his heart to think that Marv had been left with a disability because of his traps.

_But kids don't think-they just have fun._

A word like _'consequences'_ would have meant nothing to him back then.

And to an extent he still didn't want to think about consequences now; if he thought too hard about it, what would he do next? _Track down the pizza guy and make sure he wasn't permanently traumatized by the fake gunshots he'd tricked him with from one of his Dad's old movies?_

The past had to be put to bed, because something special was happening with him and Marv and he was glad of it; Marv was a sweet guy, he was so easy to love.

_He couldn't believe how Harry could just take him for granted the way he did..._

He thought about what Marv had said to him about how he couldn't do too much any more. He guessed that probably meant there wouldn't be a lot of sex in the relationship, but sex wasn't everything, was it? He wanted to love and care for the guy, make him feel happy and know that he was truly loved.

_Kevin didn't fall in love every day._

_He rarely fell in love, but when he did, he went all the way and gave the other guy the whole of his heart._

Kevin smiled as he thought about Christmas.

_This year, he would be spending it with Marv. _

He started to think about what present to get him for Christmas, it would be their first one together and he wanted it to be something special.

Kevin decided he would ask him what he wanted when they spoke online later on that evening...

Then a thought crossed his mind that made his smile fade:

_After all those years with Harry, would he really walk away from him now?_

Marv didn't strike him as a guy who thought too deeply about anything – and there was that word popping up again, the one he didn't want to think about because of his own feelings of guilt – _consequences..._

Kevin couldn't pretend that he liked Harry Lyme. From what he had seen of the real Harry, the one without the crowbar in his hand, he was sure he had been a crude, obnoxious drunk all his life and that must have been a lot for Marv to put up with. Putting someone like Harry in a relationship where he had absolute power over a submissive guy like Marv looked, to him, like a recipe for disaster.

Maybe he'd worn Marv down so much over the years his confidence was worn away, perhaps he wouldn't be able to cope if he walked away from him after all these years, either- maybe it would be too much for both of them.

Perhaps Harry's life would be ruined if he lost Marv – it bothered him to think that, even though he _didn't_ like the guy, but his main concern was Marv – was he _serious_ about leaving Harry?

He gave a sigh and wished his heart hadn't felt so heavy, but he knew he had to look at this thing from both sides; after such a long relationship, Marv would _not_ be able to painlessly walk away. Kevin knew how hard this would be for him to do and he hoped he was strong enough to see him through it...

Kevin made his decision:

_He knew how he felt about the guy, but he understood the difficulties he faced, too._

_He guessed he just had to hope that Marv would be strong enough to leave like he planned to – and if he didn't, he'd still be there for him anyway, because after all the hours they had spent day after day talking online, and after the way he felt when he looked into Marv's eyes, he knew for sure they had something special..._

Kevin glanced at the time and gave a sigh: it was early evening, yet the next few hours would crawl by. He just wanted it to be after dark, he wanted to be online, he wanted another one of his chats with Marv...

He just needed to be with him, even if they could only do that, for now, via the web...

* * *

The time had gone quickly for Marv that evening, but it always did when he was having fun... He was on his knees, holding onto the table, eye level with the toy train track. From this angle everything looked - to him - like it was so very _real_ and he watched excitedly as the train raced towards him, then as it reached the bridge, he waved, imagining people waving back at him.

"I _love _this game!" He said excitedly.

Harry called out to him.

Marv was watching the train turn the corner and head off towards the village.

Harry called him again.

Marv kept his eyes fixed on the train, fascinated by the way the way it moved along the shiny track.

Then he caught his breath as a hand slipped down the front of his open shirt.

He looked up.

Harry was standing over him and he leaned closer, whispering in his ear:

"Have you gone deaf, Marv? I asked you for coffee!"

And he toyed with one of his nipple rings and gave it a sharp tug.

The pain ran sharp through his body and Marv parted his legs a little more as he felt another ache and this one settled pleasurably between his legs.

"_Do it again!"_

Harry chuckled, understanding he had just excited him.

"No." He stated, letting go of him, "Make my coffee! I can't do it; I've got McCallister talking shit to me again!"

Marv got up and gave a sigh, turning off the speeding train as he wished he could switch off his own arousal so easily; Harry was busy online and he knew there was no way he would do anything about how he was feeling while he was busy with his plan for revenge.

"Okay Harry." He said, then he followed him out of the room.

* * *

While Marv made the coffee, Harry got back on the sofa, put his feet up and glanced at the laptop.

He gave a sigh; McCallister was still tying his message.

He inspected his nails and picked up his metal file and started to smooth down a rough edge.

"I think I need to go for a proper manicure again soon." He remarked as Marv set the coffee on the table, "I might get another one of those facials that make me look younger, too. I liked the result last time I had one. How about if I make an appointment at the salon tomorrow? You could come with me."

Marv shrugged.

"If you like." He replied, sounding disinterested. Marv was _not_ fascinated with grooming, but since he had come into money Harry had become _very_ enthusiastic about it...

Harry put down the nail file and read Kevin's message, then he laughed softly and typed a reply:

'Of course I'm serious about leaving Harry, I stopped loving him a long time ago. But I had no where to go and no one to help me and I gave up. I never thought I'd meet a guy like you and fall in love like I have. I LOVE you Kevin! Promise me, _promise_ me you feel the same way. I live for these talks we can have, I live for your visits, too. It's just so difficult at the moment because Harry is sick with flu and I can't see him getting over this for quite a while, I can't stay online very long because he's got no one to help him. But I still want to leave him. Even though he's sick, he still yells at me.'

Then Harry clicked _send,_ and then he turned back to Marv.

"Maybe you could get your hair washed and blow dried. You like that."

"But I can do it myself." Marv said, reaching up and winding a strand of his curly hair around his finger, "I don't like other people poking me about, you know that."

Harry gave a sigh.

"It's supposed to be a _treat,_ Marv!"

Marv looked back at him and couldn't miss the look of discomfort in his eyes.

"I don't mind, I like it when _you_ do stuff to me." Marv said to him, "But not..." And as he sat beside him he squirmed a little bit as he thought about it, then he finally said it:

"_I don't like strangers touching me!" _

Harry looked into his eyes and thought about the stuff he was making him do with Kevin McCallister and at that moment, he was sure he had never felt like he was a bigger bastard than he was right now for making Marv do these things, but he didn't show it.

"You didn't mind that guy I bought home from the bar once." He reminded him.

"But that was _different_, Harry! He was a _friend_ of yours! I sort of knew him because we used to try and beat each others scores on the pinball machine, and he was always coming in the bar every Friday night, so he was okay, I knew him! _And_ we were drunk, too! I just don't like _strangers_ - as in, people who I have never seen before in my life, and people who I don't want to get closer to, _touching_ me..."

Harry had been smiling but his smile faded as he looked into Marv's eyes and noticed he looked so upset he wouldn't have been surprised if he started to cry.

He made a decision silently, and as Kevin's next message flashed up, he knew what he was going to say in reply.

But first he smiled at Marv hand gave his hand a squeeze.

"Okay honey, I won't book up the salon. I'd never make ya do somethin' ya _really_ hate, not if it makes ya feel like _that!_"

As Marv gave a sigh of relief, Harry turned back to the laptop.

'I was wondering, can we meet up next weekend?' Kevin had written, 'I've told my folks I've met this guy and he's going to need somewhere to stay, they are okay about this. They don't know you used to be a Wet Bandit of course – I never told them any of that stuff. So your secret's safe.'

Harry's eyes darkened as he smiled and his gold tooth sparkled.

'Sounds good. But I will not be able to come over and meet your folks until the day I leave because Harry is sick right now and I know it will be a shock for him when I do leave, so I want him better and on a plane at Christmas time because he is planning on going for a vacation for a few days, but he wasn't taking me with him anyway he said I have to stay here and clean the apartment every day.'

Then Harry chuckled.

"_Like Cinderella." _He murmured, typing once more:

'But at least I don't have to worry about being treated like that now. I have YOU and YOU are my PRINCE I love you!'

Then he added hugs and kisses and sent the message.

Then Harry chuckled again.

"That ought to shut him up for a while." He said, then as Kevin sent a message back that said _'Marv I love you too'_, Harry paused, deep in thought once more.

"Let me see..." He said quietly, as his fingers hovered above the keyboard and he looked at the screen.

"What are you thinking about, Harry?" Marv wondered.

Harry shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, Marv. This is tricky stuff, I've got to keep him interested...go and play with your trains, this could take a while."

Marv grinned.

"Okay!" He said enthusiastically, then he got up and left the room, eager to get back to his train set.

Harry waited for a second and then leaned forward on the couch, checking that Marv was out of sight.

Then his eyes darkened and he began to type:

"When we talk like this, I like to imagine where you are and what you're doing. Are you on a PC? Is it yours or is it used by everyone? Or are you up in your bedroom, like me, on your laptop?"

The answer came back straight away:

"I'm upstairs in my room, the door is locked I'm on my bed and I'm using my laptop. I like absolute privacy when I talk to you.'

'Do you ever talk to me from your cell phone?' Harry wrote.

'No.' Kevin replied, 'I talk to you just from my lap top and I save all your messages because I love you.'

And he had added kisses.

Harry laughed darkly.

"_Thanks for the useful information!"_ He said softly, smiling as he thought about the rest of his little plan, the part that Marv knew nothing about...

Then he added:

'I keep my laptop under my bed, Kevin. Where do you keep yours?"

'Under my bed too, hey that's a coincidence, we both do the same thing!' Kevin replied, 'We think alike. That can only be a good thing, like you and me are soul mates. I think we're meant to be.'

And Harry replied with kisses.

"_Oh you make me wanna puke!"_ He snapped as he wrote, 'Harry is calling me. I think he needs to throw up. I have to go and take care of him now I don't want to but I have to, I will speak tomorrow.' (sad face)

Then he added kisses, Kevin sent him kisses back and then he signed out.

Harry shut the laptop down and his eyes sparkled darkly as he thought about his plan.

"_Thanks for tellin' me where you keep it, McCallister."_ He murmured, _"I needed to know that..."_

* * *

It happened so fast Marv didn't have time to think.

One minute he was on his knees watching his train go around the track, and then next thing he knew was Harry had him by the shoulders.

He gave him a tug and Marv fell backwards, landing safely on the carpet, in Harry's arms. Harry was on his knees and holding him as Marv looked up at him in surprise.

Then his blue eyes widened with fear.

"_No tickles! I've been good!"_

But Harry just held him and smiled at him warmly.

"No sweetheart, I'm not gonna tickle ya, I just want to do _this_..."

And he pulled Marv closer, holding him in a tight, powerful embrace as he kissed him hard and deep, as he pulled back Marv looked a little stunned and he was slightly breathless too, he hadn't been expecting the kind of kiss to take his breath away...

Harry kept hold of him as he lay there, holding him in his arms as Marv looked up at him.

"I love you." Marv said as he looked into his eyes.

And Harry saw so much truth in eyes, heard so much truth in his voice that it took all his strength not to break down and cry.

"You don't have to see McCallister again." He promised him, "Not unless something came up and I don't think that would happen. But if it does, I'll be right here just like I was before. You don't have to worry any more, Marvin. I _know_ you hate this game, but I'm pulling all the strings and I can do it through the laptop now. He's fallen for it. You could dump him right now and he'd be crying his eyes out – but I want to wait for Christmas Eve to do it to him."

Marv was still gazing up at him.

"Why Christmas Eve, Harry?" He wondered.

As Harry held Marv in his arms, he slid one hand lower and pulled him closer, cradling him, pressing his head closer to his body as he wished he didn't have to be so strong all the time- but if he broke down and cried, it would scare Marv because Marv had always looked to him as the strong one and he didn't want to break down in front of him if he could help it...

Harry drew in a tight breath as he thought back to the two Christmases that he had lived to regret: _the first when McCallister had got him busted on Lincoln Boulevard, and the second when McCallister had got him busted by the cops again in New York._

_Both times, more than anything, he regretted the fact that this sweet, loving guy with a heart of gold who he was holding tightly in his arms had suffered too, just because he loved him, just because he would do anything for him... Marv had loved him so much he had followed him into crime, broken the law with him, broke into houses with him – and suffered years in jail because of him..._

"If I could change anything," He said softly, as he toyed with a lock of his hair,"If I had time machine, I'd go back and make sure we never went to jail. I would have lived differently. I know it's too late now because the past is gone and I can't change it, but I love you so much I can _never_ forget how unhappy you were in prison, Marv. That was my fault for getting you into crime."

Then anger flickered briefly in his eyes.

"But it was_ McCallister's_ fault for getting us busted by the cops! Both times, he did it at _Christmas!_"

"I know that." Marv said to him, looking up at him with a slightly confused expression, "But you still haven't told me, _why_ Christmas Eve?"

Harry thought about his plan and the memories of the past melted away, in their place appeared warm thoughts of revenge that made his heart glad and brought a smile back to his face.

"That's why." Harry told him, "He screwed us up at Christmas, now it's his turn. Believe me when I say he's gonna regret the day he ever messed with us, Marv! He'll be regretting it for a very_, very_ long time..."

And the confusion in Marv's eyes was replaced by curiosity.

"Tell me, Harry!"

Harry leaned closer and as he looked into his eyes, Marv could not look away as he felt drawn in by his soft brown eyes.

Harry chuckled.

"Later, Marv. You'll _LOVE_ it. But you have to wait, it's gonna be a _big _surprise!"

"Can't you give me a little hint?" He wondered.

Harry shook his head.

"You have to wait and see." He promised him, then Marv could ask no more questions because Harry wrapped his arms around him tightly and gave him another kiss, a deep, loving kiss that made him go weak as Harry reminded him just how much he loved him.

* * *

Next day, when late afternoon came around, Harry drove into town with Marv.

They parked his shiny sports car and Harry linked his hand with Marv's, keeping him close as they walked down the busy street.

"Are we going back to the toy store?" Marv asked him hopefully.

Harry smiled and shook his head.

"Not today, Marv. This is a day for me to get something I want -and I want _you_ to come with me to get it."

As they walked on up the street Marv's feet began to drag and Harry felt himself being jerked backwards; Marv had now come to a complete stop.

"What's the matter with you?" He said impatiently as he looked up at him.

Marv had that nervous look in his eyes again.

"We're not going...you're not going to _make_ me go to the salon across the street, are you Harry? I told you I don't like it when people –"

"_No!"_ Harry said at once laying all his fears about strangers touching him to rest at once, "We are going to the antiques store just down the street over there." And he pointed at the shop with the rather grand displays of old glass and china in the store window.

Marv's face lit up.

"Oh great, Harry!"

Then his smile vanished again as he looked down at him.

"But I thought you said you didn't want me to go in there, not ever, you said –in case I _break_ something?"

Harry did vaguely recall having that conversation with him quite a long time ago, but he was in a good mood now the plan to nail McCallister was in the bag and as he looked up at Marv he smiled.

"You won't break anything, honey!" He reassured him, "Just don't touch anything, okay?"

"Okay." Marv said, still sounding unsure, "I'll stay close to you all the time."

And feeling confident Marv would do exactly as he was told to do, Harry kept hold of his hand and they crossed the street and went into the antiques store.

As the bell above the door rang an old woman came out of the back of the shop.

* * *

"Oh, Mr Lyme!" She said warmly "I haven't seen you for you a while! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks." He said to her, greeting her with a smile.

Marv lingered back by the door as Harry talked to her about china and then about a piece of multicoloured glass that caught his eye.

While they were on the other side of the store, Marv stayed right where he was, looking nervously at the glass display cabinets.

Some of the pieces were just standing on glass shelves, too – that was another reason he didn't want to move.

Then as Harry spoke with interest to the woman about a piece she had out the back that he was keen to see, they both went out the back of the store, leaving Marv alone.

He looked out the window that was framed by velvet drapes and watched as shoppers walked by.

Then he took a careful step back, determined not to touch anything.

He had seen a delicate figurine of a glass ballerina on the top shelf but he was too scared to reach up for it in case the sleeve of his coat knocked one of the other ornaments on that side of the side of the display, so he just stood there.

He listened as he heard Harry talking out the back:

_"That's amazing, just what I was looking for!"_ He exclaimed, _"Yeah, I'll take it right now – but box it up, I don't want my partner to see it yet, I want to give it to him for Christmas."_

And Marv smiled wondering what Harry had bought him...

Then the wind bumped against the door and rattled it, rattling Marv's nerves at the same time as he jumped back, hit the wall and felt the back of his shoe knock against something solid.

There was a sharp _crack_ that split the air and Marv's eyes grew wider as he wondered what he had done.

He glanced towards the back of the shop, but there was no sign of Harry although he could still hear him talking to the old woman_._

Marv inched closer to the drapes and pulled it back, staring in horror as the head of a medium sized china cat rolled to the carpet.

He quickly covered the headless cat with the curtain again, the head was in his hands now and it felt like it may as well have been a hot potato straight from the oven because he didn't know what to do with it and Harry was talking louder now, they were on the way back through to the front of the shop...

Marv leaned quickly into the window display and came back out again, breathing a sigh of relief as he stepped right away from the curtain and the store window just as Harry and the old woman came back into the room.

Harry was carrying a small box that was sealed with tape.

"Thank you so much for thinking of me when you saw this." He told her.

She smiled warmly.

"Well I know you said you wanted to collect some male oriented art, especially the romantic kind and I thought I'd save that piece for next time you came in."

"What is it?" Marv wondered.

"It's for you, for Christmas – you're not having it yet!" Harry told him.

Then he thanked the old woman again and they left the store.

As they walked past the store front on the way back to the car, Marv glanced in the window and smiled, then looked away.

Harry happened to glance too, then he turned to walk off but suddenly looked back again.

"_That sure is a weird sight."_ He said, staring at the shop display.

On the way in he had been sure the top of the display had featured a very old china doll, who sat in a Victorian dress with her hands in her lap.

Now that doll was still sitting there sweetly, but in her lap was... _the severed head of a china cat?_

"Weird." Harry said again, shaking his head.

Then he turned from the display and walked on with Marv, towards the place where their car was parked.

Suddenly Marv stopped and looked up in wonder at the tiny white flakes drifting down from the darkening sky.

"Its snowing, Harry!" He exclaimed, "Oh great! If it keeps snowing it might get really snowy and then we can go outside and play snowballs!"

Harry smiled and shook his head.

"I know it's snowing, Marv. Let's get back in the car and go home before we freeze our asses off!"

* * *

As they drove home the snow started to get thicker.

Marv glanced in the back seat at the small box that was carefully taped shut.

"I wish I knew what it was, Harry!" He said excitedly, "I _love_ it when you give me surprises!"

Harry kept his eyes on the road, watching his speed as the snow started to come down thicker, slowing the traffic. The wipers moved back and forth clearing the windshield and as Marv watched the flakes hurrying down to earth they seemed to be falling at such a speed he was sure they were making him dizzy.

"I can't count 'em" He said, "There's so many...they look nice, though..."

"You've got all night to watch the snow from the window when we get home." Harry reminded him, "And tomorrow morning the whole town will look like it's been covered by a white blanket."

"I like it when that happens." Marv said, still watching the snowfall.

Suddenly he felt a prickle of guilt about Harry's vase.

It was nothing to do with blaming Kevin for it; he would have blamed _anyone _and had no problem doing it on the day it happened, because on that day, Harry had been steaming drunk and very mad over it, too...

But Harry had just bought him a present, something special, he knew it was special because that store was the place he got all his special antique pieces from...

Harry was still driving, watching the road, going slow and careful.

Marv thought about what he had done and suddenly he just couldn't keep it in any more, because his heart was stinging with the thought of it and his eyes were stinging too, with tears that were blurring his vision.

He drew in a sharp breath and wiped his eyes.

" _Harry..."_

He turned away from the road, glancing at Marv with a look of surprise in his eyes:

_What the hell was Marv crying for?_

"Marv?" He said, checking the road again and then looking back at him, "What's the matter?"

Marv looked downwards and gave another sob and then wiped his eyes again.

"I'm sorry, I did something wrong and I feel bad..."

They came to some lights and Harry slowed to a stop.

"What's wrong, Marv? Don't just sit there getting upset. Is it me? Have I upset ya? Tell me what's wrong?"

Marv looked at him, finally meeting his gaze with tearful eyes.

"It was me, Harry. I was riding in the chair trying to get used to it before McCallister showed up and I hit the table. I didn't mean to do it but..._I broke your vase_."

He gave another sob.

"I'm _sorry _I told you a lie! Please don't be mad at me!"

Harry gave him a weary look.

"_You_ broke it?"

Marv nodded, sniffed and wiped his eyes again.

"Sorry Harry – but you were drunk and I didn't want you to be mad at me..."

The lights were changing.

Harry gave a sigh.

"Marv, it's okay." He promised him.

Marv looked at him intently.

"Really? But...you...you've been so _nice_ to me and bought me stuff and I _broke_ your favourite piece of china!"

"Marv!" Harry said firmly, "Just look at me."

Marv obeyed him, searching his face for a trace of the anger he had seen on the day the vase was broken, but he saw none.

Harry smiled and warmth reflected in his eyes.

"Don't worry about what I'm like when I'm drunk. I'm an asshole when I'm drunk, you know that! Okay, I liked the vase. I can get another one. Don't cry over it, Marv!"

"But I _lied _to you."

Harry shook his head.

"It's forgotten, okay?"

On hearing those words Marv's tears dried up and he managed a smile.

"Okay, Harry." He said, "Thanks for not being mad."

"I'm not mad, come here."

Marv leaned closer and Harry gave him a brief kiss.

"There you go Marv – I'm _not_ mad, now let's go home, get in the warm and you and me can watch the snow together, how does that sound?"

Finally Harry saw the light come back into Marv's eyes.

"That's better." He said as he gripped the wheel and watched the lights, "Now don't start crying over nothing again Marv – it's _forgotten_, okay?"

"Okay." Marv said, feeling happier to know Harry had forgiven him.

Then the lights changed and the car moved off, Harry still taking it slow and careful in the heavy snow, while Marv looked out the window and watched the snowflakes falling all the way home.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The snow was falling thick and fast and it was starting to become freezing outside, icy freezing cold.

Marv had noticed it as soon as they got out of the car and he had smiled as he thought back to the days when they were the Wet Bandits and the only heat they'd had in that old van was the heater – which didn't ever seem to work as well as he hoped it would. But Harry's sports car had stayed comfortably warm all the way home. And when he got out of the car, the cold had _really_ hit him and Marv had huddled closer into the warmth of his coat, then he had noticed Harry shiver, so he put his arm around him and they had walked to the elevator together.

As the elevator started to climb, Marv's gaze fixed on the small box Harry was holding onto.

"I wish you'd tell me what it is!"

"No Marv, it's not long to go until Christmas – you'll have to wait for your surprise." Harry told him.

Then they reached the top floor, went down to the door of the apartment and Harry unlocked it.

"I'm hiding this!" He said with a smile on his face, then he went into the bedroom to put Marv's gift safely away.

Marv took off his coat and went through to the front room, instantly feeling wrapped in warmth by the heating that was turned right up.

He sat down on the leather recliner by the window and looked through the glass, watching the snowflakes drifting through the sky.

When Harry came back into the room, now with his coat and shoes off and just about in the mood to either jump on the couch or jump on Marv, he stopped in the doorway for a moment, smiling as he saw the way Marv had his hand pressed to the glass and in that same glass he saw his face reflected; Marv looked like the dizzying fall of the snowflakes were making him sleepy.

For once he didn't feel like giving him orders; Marv deserved a rest even if he would have told him otherwise. Sometimes Harry liked to treat him like he was special and tonight was one of those times.

"I'll make you a coffee." He said, and then he left the room before Marv could refuse and say that was _his_ job.

While Harry made the coffee, his thoughts were drifting much like that snow outside the window that Marv was so fascinated with.

But to Harry, after two Christmases so long ago that had seen him suffer much pain and go to jail twice because of McCallister, all snow would ever remind him of was how great it felt to plunge his hand into it to kill the pain after scorching his hand on a red hot door knob.

"_Little bastard!"_ He said as he stirred the coffee, then he didn't want to ruin the evening by thinking about McCallister, so he switched his thoughts to the guy he loved:

Marv thought snow was magical; but then he guessed most things that entranced a six year old kid would fascinate Marv because he just didn't see things the way _most_ guys did...

Harry smiled as he thought of all the little things that thrilled Marv:

_He loved to see his eyes light up, to see him thrilled at such small pleasures in life. He was like a big over grown kid and dumb with it but Harry knew he wouldn't change him for the world..._

Then his smile faded as he thought some more about exactly why Marv was so slow:

He hadn't always been that way, not when he was little.

_Then one beating too far from his sadistic father had almost killed him... _

_Marv had never been the same again._

Harry had heard all the stories about Marv's shitty childhood.

_Marv had cried when he told him about it._

Then one day, about two months after Marv had moved in with Harry, Marv had said his father had been in touch because he wanted some money, because he was behind with the house payments.

Marv had looked at Harry with wide, frightened eyes and begged him to come with him because he had never wanted to go back into that house alone and he was sure his father would take every cent off him and make him come back and do it again _and _again...

_Marv was terrified._

So Harry had driven over to the house and told Marv to wait in the car.

When a big guy twice as heavy as Marv answered the door, he'd looked over at Marv and asked why his idiot son was too scared to come in.

Harry had smiled as his eyes turned to ice.

"_I guess it's because you beat the shit out of him too many times." _He'd replied.

The guy had no time to respond, he hadn't expected to be whacked over the head half a dozen times with the butt of Harry Lyme's gun.

Then Harry had stood over him and repeated every word Marv's father had said on the day he'd beat him back and blue and thrown him out of the house forever:

"_Retard?"_ He said quietly as he stood over the bleeding man, _"Retard faggot piece of shit?_ Well guess what, _I'm_ the guy who's with your son now and I fuckin' _love_ him! And if you _ever_ get in contact with me again, this gun will be down your throat and I'll pull the trigger on ya, have you got that?"

Then Harry had spat on him, stepped over him and got back into the car and they'd driven away.

"_He wont come near you again, Marv."_ Harry had promised him - and after that day, Marv's father never _did_ contact him again...

He gave a sigh as he thought about that memory; Marv had come from such a terrible background, one even worse than his own...

Harry had left home at the age of sixteen because of his alcoholic parents but he'd not let the bad stuff damage him, at least, he hoped he hadn't. He'd vowed that he would always take care of himself, he would never let anyone use him, treat him like shit...he would never give them the chance.

_And that had cost him greatly in relationships, too_.

He'd had quite a few women in his younger days; none of them had been able to put up with his drinking _or_ his temper. But then he had discovered guys – and then found the _right_ guy, Marvin Merchants, who was everything he was not and who loved him unconditionally now and forever. He was sure it was only Marv's love over the years that had stopped his heart from turning to stone because he was _the one_, the _only_ one, who reminded him that he was still capable of giving and receiving love, because that was Marv's way:

_He was like a gift to him and he never wanted to lose sight of the fact..._

Then Harry thought about his plans for Christmas and smiled again:

_Marv was going to have a magical Christmas this year, he was making sure of that, a lot of money and planning had gone into it... And as for his own plans for McCallister, to Harry that was like a little extra gift for both of them, that would truly be the icing on the cake..._

* * *

Marv was still watching the snow.

But now he was standing up, looking out of the window and the slap on the ass that Harry gave him made him jump, turn sharply and then smile.

"Thanks!" He said playfully and Harry laughed.

"Come and sit down with me, Marv."

The coffee was on the table but Harry made no move to lift his cup, instead he just sat back and put his arm around Marv as he sat beside him.

"What Harry?" He wondered, looking into his eyes.

Harry toyed with a lock of Marv's curly hair and smiled.

"It's not long until Christmas!" He reminded him.

"I know. I'm excited; I want to know what's in the box!"

Harry laughed softly.

"Forget the box, Marv! Tell me what would make Christmas really special for you."

Marv's eyes lit up at once.

"A ride with Santa and his reindeer through the skies over Chicago!"

Harry gave him a knowing look.

"I think Santa is a bit too busy to take you for a flight, Marv! He's got houses to visit!"

"Oh...okay...um...carol singers, and elves – _real_ ones!"

Harry frowned.

"_Real ones..." _He said thoughtfully.

"And big shiny presents and lots of lights, lots of happy Christmas lights! And nice food and stuff like that."

Harry smiled again.

"Okay, that sounds good." He told him, and he reached up and ruffled his curly hair.

"Ya never know Marv – you _might_ just get your wish!"

Harry was thinking about pouncing on him now, he loved to get Marv when he wasn't expecting it and just lunge in for a kiss and surprise him. But Marv had that sleepy look in his eyes again as his gaze shifted back to the window and he watched the snowflakes drift.

"Are you tired?" He said softly

_"Yeah..."_

Marv had barely heard him; he was still watching the snowflakes fall.

Then as Harry pulled him a little closer, Marv rested his head on his shoulder.

"I was thinking you and me might go over to Lacey's and see some of the guys tomorrow afternoon." He suggested, "What do you think, Marv? I feel like taking you out for a beer."

The snowflakes continued to fall and Harry got no reply.

"Marv?"

He glanced down and then held Marv a little tighter, listening to his slow, even breathing as he slept soundly with his head on Harry's shoulder.

* * *

_"Kevin?"_

He turned from the window, away from the falling snow.

His Mom looked at him curiously

"What are you thinking about? You looked a thousand miles away, I called you three times!"

He shook his head

"I was just thinking about my friend, you know, the guy I told you about, the one who's coming to stay over Christmas. I'm very fond of him and –"

Kate McCallister smiled.

It was good to hear her son finally mention he had someone in his life who he was getting fond of; it had been quite a while since Kevin had been in a relationship.

"I'm sure he's a very nice guy. He sounds nice from what you've told me. Not that you've said much and I really will feel a lot happier about him once I've met him..."

Then she paused, remembering Kevin had said Marv's situation was complicated right now.

"But I guess no one is perfect and life isn't always as easy as we'd like it to be. I'm just glad that it's working out for you both. And I _am _looking forward to meeting him."

Kevin just gave his Mom a smile and as she left the room he took hold of the curtain and pulled it aside, watching as heavier snow began to fall.

The weather reports had said it would be like this, snowing heavily, on and off for days with no real sign of it stopping until after Christmas...

He thought back to that snowy December so long ago, back when he had been a boy and left home by accident while his family went on vacation.

Everything had seemed like such a big adventure back then, everything had seemed so clear cut:

_Harry and Marv were the bad guys and he was trying to catch them, to beat them, to scare them away..._

He thought about Marv and felt an ache in his heart.

As he left the room and went back upstairs to his bedroom he was _still _thinking about Marv.

He went online but he was not there; Kevin guessed he was too busy taking care of Harry.

Now would have been a good time for Marv to leave him, while he was sick because he wouldn't be in any kind of shape to get aggressive over it – but Marv was not like that, Marv was kind...

Kevin felt a warm glow in his heart as he thought about him.

Then his memories flickered darkly as he recalled every trap he had ever set, every pain he must have caused that guy back in the old days.

_He certainly regretted it now..._

Kevin sat on top of his bed and closed down the lap top and thought some more about Marv.

As he remembered the way he'd felt when he hugged him, when they kissed, he blinked away tears as memories of his traps came back to haunt him.

"_I'm sorry."_ He whispered, wishing he could turn back time and change everything.

_Kevin lay back and closed his eyes and pictured how different things would be when Marv left Harry and came to stay with him:_

_It would be so much better for Marv, when he was away from Harry._

_He would be here, on is bed, right next to him every night...Kevin remembered what Marv had said about how he couldn't do much because of his old injuries. _

_That wouldn't matter; all he wanted to do was gently kiss him all over while he gently touched him, caressed him ...Marv would love that..._

Kevin smiled at the thought of it and his hand slipped down his pants.

Then there was a knock on his bedroom door and his hand came out of his pants again as he heard his Mom's voice.

"What, Mom?" He called back.

"Did you want a coffee or anything, honey?"

"No, I'm okay. It's been a long day. I'm having an early night." He replied.

Then he sat alone in the dark, his thoughts still on Marv as he dreamed about how different the future would be once he finally left Harry Lyme...

Eventually he gave into his longing and went online and sent Marv a message, then he waited, hoping Marv would have at least five minutes to check his messages at some point that night...

* * *

Marv was fast asleep in bed when Harry went online and checked for messages.

He signed in as Marv and then opened the message in his inbox and he glared at the words:

'I know it's difficult for you to get away, but I really want to see you. Can we meet up, is there any way we can do that? I want to hold you in my arms again, love Kevin.'

"_Shit!"_ Harry snapped, hitting _reply_ and then thinking for a moment.

But then the chat box popped up and sending a reply via email was no longer an option; he had _not_ set Marv's online status as invisible...

'Are you okay?' Kevin wrote, 'How's Harry?'

"_How's Harry?"_ He said under his breath, "Like _you_ give a fuck!"

Then he wrote the reply:

'Harry is really sick. I'm getting worried about him. I can't see him getting over this much before Christmas. I got your message, I'd love to see you but I can't leave him while he's like this, it's not fair. I am going to leave him but I wouldn't walk away when he can't get out of bed. I'm not THAT mean, I wouldn't do that to anyone.'

'Maybe I should let you get on with looking after him, I can always talk with you tomorrow.' Kevin wrote.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"_Yeah, fuck off."_ He said in a low voice, about to reply and agree with him.

_Then a thought struck him and his eyes glittered darkly as he recalled how McCallister had tricked him over the burglar scenario: _

_Maybe there was another way to fool him with it, because he wouldn't be aggressive now, not when he thought he was talking to Marv..._

Harry chuckled and started to type, pausing briefly to tug down his zip to get more comfortable because he was in one of _those_ moods again...

He was sure he felt a mild high, the start of a buzz in his head as he began to play out his favourite fantasy in a way that Kevin would suspect nothing.

'Kevin, can I talk to you about something? I just want to share it because it upset me and I want to talk to you about it. Is that okay?'

The reply came back as '_Yes of course you can, you can tell me anything!'_ (kisses).

And Harry chuckled again as he started to write:

_'A few days ago Harry made me watch this sick movie with him. It was a really nasty hardcore porn. There was this guy, he was a housebreaker – he looked a lot like Harry too – and he broke into this house where this guy was fast asleep in bed. He woke him up and threatened him with a gun. Then he cuffed him and asked him for the combination to the safe but the guy wouldn't talk.'_

And Harry sent the message.

He watched the screen as Kevin started to type.

"Come on..." He murmured, excitedly waiting for his response.

He got a sense of victory as Kevin replied:

'What happened? Was it a nasty movie? Really nasty?'

'Yes, Harry wrote, 'I was really upset. It made me feel sick because of what happened.'

'What happened?' Kevin asked him.

Harry's fingers pounced on the keyboard excitedly as he started to write the reply:

_'He was a young guy, about twenty five, good looking... the burglar was a really mean guy, he didn't mess around. He knew what he wanted. He stripped him naked, he grabbed him by the balls and gave a really hard squeeze. The guy was totally helpless. After that he gave him the combination to the safe and he thought that was the end of it, but then the burglar took his pants down. I've got a big dick –'_

"_Oh shit!"_ Harry said, deleting _I've got _and replacing it with the words _he had_, then he carried on writing:

_'...at least nine, maybe nine and a half inches long. I was shocked at the way he forced him to take it!'_

Then he clicked _send_ and waited for the response.

'Does he watch a lot of stuff like that?' Kevin asked him, 'I can understand why it made you feel sick.'

Harry shifted in his seat, going deeper into his darkest fantasies, knowing Marv would never, ever know this side to him at all...

'Harry watches all kind of shit like that, he loves it. He likes _really_ violent porn. He likes to watch movies where guys get jumped on and in the story they get made to do sick shit, like obey everything, everything without question. Have no limits, no respect for themselves.'

Harry was so turned on it was becomig uncomfortable now.

Kevin sent a reply back:

'Oh no, I hope he's never forced _you_ to do stuff like that Marv!"

Harry smiled: _Of course not! He would never do a thing like that to his Marvin, but in his fantasies, it was a different story:_

'_All the time!'_ Harry wrote quickly, '_He makes me do all kinds of stuff. _He's a _nasty_ guy; he's _such_ a _dirty, filthy, disgusting guy_, Kevin.'

Then as Kevin sent a sympathetic reply back, promising him soon he would be free of Harry forever, Harry rubbed his aching crotch and sent a final reply:

'I REALLY have to go now, Harry is calling me. Speak soon. Not tomorrow, Harry is too sick. Maybe the next day - no - _definitely_ the next day because I don't want to be too long without talking to you, okay? Love you.'

And he added kisses and Kevin did the same and Harry signed out and shut the laptop, getting up quickly and making his way through to the bedroom.

* * *

Marv was woken up by a hard thump on the side of his head.

He gave a groan and blinked in the semi darkness as he saw Harry on his knees on the bed, and he knew at once what had happened.

"Harry!" He complained, "I was asleep!"

"Wake up!" He said urgently.

"I _know _you've got a hard on, you didn't have to smack me round the head with it – that _hurt!_"

Harry gently stroked his cheek, briefly apologizing, then he closed his fingers around a handful of his hair and gave ita tug.

_"Down ya go, Marv!"_

Marv gave a tired sigh as he obeyed him.

"_Oh yes!"_ Harry said urgently.

Moments later he gave a sharp gasp and his thrill was over.

Harry shook as he held on to him, then he pulled away, breathing heavily.

Marv rolled over as Harry got in bed next to him and put his arms around him.

"What was all that about?" He wondered, still feeling sleepy.

Harry held him tighter as he smiled in the dark.

"I just got turned on watching you sleeping, that's all. Go back to sleep now, honey. See you in the morning."

"Okay." Marv whispered, closing his eyes again.

As Marv drifted back off to sleep, Harry was still awake and feeling very pleased with himself as he thought about how he'd used the conversation with Kevin to his advantage..._and the little creep didn't even know it!_

"I win..." He murmured, still smiling as he shut his eyes and pulled Marv closer as he slept.

* * *

Next morning Marv had woken up and been surprised at the softness of Harry's kiss.

As his eyes fluttered open and he looked up at him, Harry was smiling at him.

"Sorry if I was rough last night." He said gently, "I was in one of those spontaneous moods."

Marv stretched and yawned.

"That's okay, I like it when you grab me like that."

"Sure you do." Harry said quietly, feeling a flicker of guilt as he recalled the thrill he'd got from his online game.

Then Harry sat up and thought about how things stood:

_Kevin was out of the way, at least for now because he had fallen for his excuses. That meant he wouldn't even have to sign in to the web site and talk to that bundle of misery today. It was a nice feeling to know he had a day free of McCallister, even if he was working up to a slightly grander plan for revenge than Marv was aware of..._

He looked at Marv and smiled as his gold tooth caught the light and sparkled.

"I'm taking you out today." He told him, "I'm taking you to Lacey's, Marv. We can go and see the guys, have a few drinks..."

Marv gave a groan.

"You'll get _drunk,_ Harry!"

"No I won't. I'll be on my _best_ behaviour!"

"Yeah right..._sure_ you will." Marv said doubtfully as he watched Harry get out of bed and make his way through to the bathroom.

* * *

Kevin was at work, he was working but his mind was not on work and eventually he turned away from his desk and looked out the window at the snowy world beyond:

_Snow brought back so many memories, and not all of them good ones._

Every time he thought about Harry and Marv and all the things he had done to those guys so long ago he felt weighed down by guilt.

It wasn't Harry.

_He barely thought of Harry at all._

_It was all about Marv._

_Who couldn't love that guy?_

Now he knew him, now he had spent so long, night after night talking to him for hours over the web, he felt like he knew him inside out.

His gaze fixed beyond the window, down into the streets as he thought about all the stores and their Christmas displays.

He still wasn't sure what to get Marv for Christmas, but after recalling the giant panda Harry had bought him, he guessed Marv liked soft, cuddly, furry things – maybe he'd get him a big teddy bear, perhaps a train set too...

Kevin decided to ask him exactly what kind of present he would like for Christmas next time they spoke online.

Then he remembered it wouldn't be today, Marv had said tomorrow, and it made his heart ache.

Kevin gave a sigh, turned back to his work and tried to get on with his day even though Marv Merchants was very much in his heart and his thoughts.

* * *

It was mid afternoon.

The bar was busy, but not as busy as usual because of the snow.

_But nothing stopped Harry from having a beer._

He was on his eighth drink and getting louder by the minute.

"Hey bartender!" He called out, leaning on the bar as he looked down to the other end, "Get me another beer! _And get me another virgin too –_"

He slapped Marv's ass, "Because this one split a _long_ time ago!"

"Yeah okay Harry – could you keep the noise down a bit?" The bartender said to him as he half smiled and wearily shook his head, then got on with the task of serving another customer.

"No problem, pal!" Harry called back, then he turned from the bar and wobbled slightly, swaying on his feet as he caught hold of the bar again to steady himself up.

"You havin' fun, Marv?" He said sweetly as he looked up at him.

Marv gave him a knowing look; he'd known for sure Harry was in a mood to get drunk. Marv wasn't the smartest guy in the world and he acknowledged that too, because there was no point in denying it- but he had known for sure Harry was planning on getting drunk because of the way he'd sunk three beers in the first hour they'd spent in this place. He was drinking like a _fish_ today...

"Maybe you should slow down with the beer." Marv said to him, "You're drunk already, Harry."

And Harry stared at him.

"Well maybe you wouldn't notice if you came off the cola and started drinking _with_ me!"

"But I have to drive us home." Marv reminded him.

Harry thought about it.

"Oh yeah, so ya do." He replied, shaking his head as he wished he could clear the fuzzy haze that was starting to creep through his mind.

He sat on the bar stool and Marv sat beside him, watching him closely, ready to reach out and grab him if he leaned back too far and toppled off his seat.

"Are you okay, Harry?" He wondered.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?"

Marv frowned as he looked thoughtfully at him.

"I don't know, you look like you've got stuff on your mind. _Have_ you? _Are_ you worried about something?"

As he paid for another beer and brought it to his lips he stayed silent; Marv was right, he was right about so much but he just didn't know it:

_Harry had thought out his plan, a plan that went much further than merely breaking Kevin's heart. Sure that would come into it, but there was more and the stakes were higher than Marv could imagine..._

Harry set his beer down on the bar.

"I don't have anything on my mind, Marv. I just want to have fun."

Marv still looked worried and Harry was very much aware of it.

"Marv, don't look at me like that – I'm okay. Can't I have a beer and have a laugh and get a little bit drunk without you worrying? I brought you out to have a good time, what's the matter with ya?"

Marv shrugged.

"Nothing, Harry. I just wondered why you were drinking so fast – I know you like a beer but today you're knocking it back like..."

And he stopped, not wanting to finish his sentance.

"Like _what?_" Harry demanded, instantly irritated by the fact that Marv was holding back on him.

"Nothing..."

Now he glared at him.

"I thought you and me had no secrets?" Harry snapped, "Remember that? You promised me a long time ago, you tell me _everything_, Marv – you keep _nothing_ from me!"

Marv decided to own up, because that reminder had made him feel guilty.

"It's just that the way you're drinking and the look in your eyes - it reminds me of that time you got caught stealing a car and you knew you were going to jail for it when you went to court the next day, the night before you drank just like you're drinking now."

Harry grabbed his beer and drank some more, then he put it back down on the bar.

"Don't be stupid Marv." He said.

The he thought about what he'd just said to him...Marv was right, partly...

"_It's Christmas Eve soon."_ He murmured.

"What's happening on Christmas Eve?" Marv demanded, and that worried look was back in his eyes.

Harry looked up at Marv and smiled, wanting to banish that worry from his eyes at once:

_Marv didn't need to know a thing about his little plan until it was over; it was safer for him that way..._

"You and me are going away for Christmas, we're gonna have a great time and that's _all _you need out know for now!" He told him, "You wait and see, Marv. You'll love it!"

Then he leaned back a little too far and as Marv reached out for him, Harry grabbed at the bar to steady himself up.

"Harry, I really think you've had enough drink!" Marv told him again, "You're falling over!"

_"But I won't disappoint ya when we get home!"_ He said loudly,_ "If I can't get it up I can always fix that...I won't let ya down, Marv!"_

Then he glanced around at some of the guys who he knew well and called out:

"_Hey guys, I'm a bit too drunk to perform and I don't wanna disappoint Marv! Has anyone got a couple of lolly sticks and some duct tape?"_

And a couple of the guys laughed.

"Sure," One of them said, "I just hope the duct tape's to shut you up when Marv gets you home!"

And Marv smiled at that remark.

"Come on Harry," He said, draping his coat around his shoulders, "Let's go home. If you don't leave soon you'll be falling asleep on the bar! And don't deny it because you've done _that_ before!"

Harry looked at the remainder of his beer and as the room span slightly, the beer left in the glass suddenly looked like a lot to finish off.

"Okay, let's go." He said, then Marv took a couple of steps towards the door, then waited, giving Harry ten minutes to say goodbye to everyone in his usual drunken way, talking on and on and on for more than ten minutes.

And then Harry half stumbled out of the bar while Marv kept his arm around him, leading him carefully through the deepening snow and back to the car.

Harry sank into the passenger seat of his sports car and leaned back, closing his eyes.

Marv got into the drivers side and then leaned over him.

Harry opened his eyes and looked at him, with a playful smile on his face.

"You wanna make out here, in the car? Right outside the bar in broad daylight, Marv?"

"_No Harry!"_

Marv briefly leaned over him further and Harry heard a _click_ and then Marv sat up again.

"_I was just putting on your seatbelt!"_

"I knew that." Harry murmured.

Then Marv started the engine and the car began to move.

Harry kept his eyes shut as they drove home, he felt sleepy but not enough to crash out – but it was easier to make out that he was asleep, because Marv had touched on the truth back at the bar and he didn't want him to know that, because he was determined to keep Marv away from risks of any kind...but he was right, he _did _have things on his mind...and as he turned those things over, he wished he'd stayed for another drink because right now his nerves were on edge.

This plan to get his own back on McCallister was a little more complicated than Marv realized, it was also much more risky than he knew - and it had been _many_ years since Harry had even considered taking a risk as big as the one he was about to make:

_It had been years since he had tried his hand at housebreaking, but here he was, about to do it all over again – because unless he took the risk, the rest of the plan would collapse like a house of cards and he wasn't going to let that happen, not now things had gone this far..._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_The time passed quickly and soon it was the day before Christmas Eve_.

Harry had been working hard on all his plans and there had been times when he wasn't sure which was hardest – arranging revenge on McCallister, or arranging to give Marv the best Christmas he could ever wish for.

Harry had worked long, hard hours late at night on the laptop getting everything the way he needed it to. Kevin was totally convinced he was talking to Marv he was totally convinced he had fallen in love with him – _even though, in reality, he had never spoken to the guy even once on the internet..._

Harry felt tired.

_And the plan still wasn't quite perfected, not until tomorrow, when the final pieces fell into place._

Harry waited until it was dark and then logged on to the site for the final time- it had to be the final time, because after tonight, he was deleting his profile and Marv's and wiping off all records of his conversations with McCallister...

Marv was asleep in bed when Kevin finally came online.

'Hey,' He said, 'I've been looking forward to this all day, Marv. Please tell me you still want to leave. Please tell me you won't change your mind.'

A smile came to Harry's face as he started to write:

'Harry is leaving at mid day tomorrow. He's better now and he can't wait to go on vacation. I will be alone in the apartment, come over about seven pm. By then I'll be packed up and ready to leave. And Kevin, before I do leave with you can we do something special?'

'Sure, whatever you want to do, just say it and I'll make it happen.' Kevin replied.

Harry paused for a moment, gathering careful thoughts, then he began to slowly type:

"I often think back to the past when I was a bad guy breaking into your home. I know you say it doesn't matter, but when I think about how much you have come to mean to me the past matters A LOT and I REGRET so much. Can we play a nice game, like where you make out you're breaking into my apartment, but not to steal anything – but to RESCUE me!'

And he added a big smile.

'Sure Marv it sounds like fun! I'll rescue you, I'll take you right away from Harry Lyme and when you wake up Christmas morning you'll be with me, in my arms, with me giving you the softest kisses to wake you up so I can look into your eyes and tell you what a beautiful guy you are.'

Harry felt prickle of anger.

"That's _my _beautiful guy, McCallister!" He snapped, replying:

'I am excited already! Dress in black and bring a crowbar like a real burglar. Show up at exactly seven pm. I will be waiting for you. Don't worry, you won't have to use the crow bar- the door will be open, you can just walk in. I'll have all the lights off too. You can switch them on and surprise me and then say, _Marv, I've come to rescue you, honey!_'

'Ok, I'll do that!' Kevin said at once.

Harry added a few more details, just to make sure he had him properly hooked.

'And then I want you to take me through to the bedroom, help me out of my chair, lay me gently on the bed and cover me with kisses, Kevin - all over my naked body!'(Kisses).

'Oh Marv I'll do that, I want to do that to you so much!' Kevin responded.

And Harry Lyme gave a chuckle as dark as the sparkle in his eyes.

Listen," He added, recalling the useful information he had picked up during their many long conversations, 'I know your parents are out for the day tomorrow doing some last minute Christmas shopping...could you go with them and maybe get me something I _really_ want? I know you wanted to find out what I want for Christmas...I want a bird in a cage. Not a real one, a toy one. Can you pick that up for me?"

'Sure, I'll get you one from the toy store.' Kevin replied.

'And Kevin,' Harry added, 'This is our _last_ conversation online. I can't run the risk of Harry knowing anything or tracing me once I've gone, so I will be deleting my profile and deleting all our conversations, everything will be wiped off. DON'T contact me again on here; just come over to the apartment tomorrow at seven pm, okay? And bring the bird in the cage. I love you and I'll see you then.'

And as Kevin confirmed he would follow his instructions, Harry added kisses and then signed out.

Then he took a deep breath and set about deleting Marv's profile, then his own profile, then deleting all records of the many messages he had shared with Kevin.

Once it was done, he sat in silence in the darkened front room, taking a deep breath as he thought about the task that lay ahead of him tomorrow:

He had to get away long enough to break into the McCallister house and wipe Kevin's laptop too, then he had get Marv out of the way for a few hours...which would be the hardest task of all, because he couldn't let Marv get suspicious_...he wanted to keep him right out of this dangerous game..._

* * *

On the morning of Christmas Eve, while Kevin was off out shopping with his parents, Harry Lyme was parked up a short distance away from 671 Lincoln Boulevard, staying low in his sports car that was partly shielded by the huge piles of snow that had been swept up high at the corner of the road.

Keeping Marv out of the way hadn't been as hard as he had first thought it would be; he had kissed him while he was still warm and sleepy in bed and then told him he was off out to make some last minute arrangements for their vacation, and because it was all a surprise, he had to wait at home.

Marv's eyes had lit up like an excited child and he had been only too happy to oblige and stay right where he was, warm in bed, while the snow began to drift down in light flakes outside.

As Harry had parked the car and huddled in his long coat and kept his thick woollen hat pulled tightly about his head, he had thought about the old days when he'd been sitting next to Marv checking out this very same house, just before they had clinked their crow bars together and said, _"Crowbars up!"_

He chose not to think about the rest; that was gone it was in the past, it was history that wouldn't be repeated...

_McCallister was no smart kid determined to catch burglars now, those days had gone by long ago – now he was a man, and worst of all, a man so blinded by love, his one weakness that would prove to be his downfall..._

Harry leaned forwards and closed his hand around the crowbar, which he hid beneath his coat. Then he walked casually up to the front door and knocked, with his hands covered by leather gloves. He was calling just like any other visitor would. He looked down and chuckled: No ice today. They'd cleared the area around the house – he wouldn't even leave a footprint...

Harry went around the side of the house, and then he noticed the kitchen window wasn't shut. There was a little crack left open just enough to let in some air, partly, he assumed, because someone had forgot to close it.

_"Thanks."_ He said in a low voice, and hooked the crowbar in the gap and levered the window up.

Harry scrambled through quickly, jumping down from the kitchen sink and dropping to his hands and knees as he crawled across the room, ignoring the pain in his hip that was starting to nag and he reached the door mat, got up and wiped his shoes on it until they were dry. Then he grabbed a cloth and polished the sink and the floor, before carefully stepping over to the carpeted hallway, keeping the cloth in his hand.

He made his way quickly up the stairs, not wanting to think about falling paint cans or the scream that Marv let out when McCallister had put the spider on his face.

He shook his head, trying to banish those demons from his mind: now was _not_ the time to expect blow torches to his head or any of the other traps McCallister had once rigged up...but it was difficult, sneaking around this house to think of anything else right now...

Harry grabbed the first door knob with his gloved hand and glanced inside: _This had to be his parent's room..._

He shut the door again.

Then he went on searching rooms, until he found Kevin's room.

He knew it was his room because it was the only _other _room that was actually lived in, the other bedrooms had long since become empty when the kids had left home and become spare rooms.

He dropped to his knees on the carpet and lifted the sheet, peering under the bed.

Harry smiled a broad smile as he saw the laptop just where Kevin had told him he kept it, and he opened it up and switched it on.

He went straight to the website, wondering how the hell he could hack McCallister to get every trace of his conversations off the web and out of this machine: then as he looked up at the log in box he laughed.

"_You idiot!"_ He exclaimed, realizing McCallister was in the habit of asking his browser to remember his usernames and passwords for him...

He quickly deleted all his chat history, then the profile, then he searched his other instant messenger and deleted that too.

Then Harry pulled a disc from his pocket, stuck it into the laptop and wiped it clean.

As he watched the program work he laughed, thinking how glad he was he'd done that IT course a few years back while he was still in jail...

"_There ya go," _He said softly as he drew out the disc, _"Like new. Tight as a virgin's asshole!"_

Then that malicious sparkle was back in his eyes as reopened the office program and created a new document.

'Confession' He wrote, underlining it, and then as his gloved fingers danced across the keyboard with grace, Harry was still laughing.

"Oh this is perfect, _so _perfect!" He declared, setting out every single word carefully, knowing this would be relevant to _everything_ in a few hours time...

Then Harry noticed the battery was low, so he saved the document, making sure it was visible on the desktop, and then he watched as the power drained away.

And then Harry closed the laptop and slid it back under the bed, leaving it exactly as he had found it, before carefully leaving the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

He went back down the stairs, still gripping the crowbar tightly in case he got an unexpected surprise, but he did not.

Harry left by the window, pausing to briefly lean in and use the same cloth to clean away his shoe marks, before pulling the window back down.

Then he checked the coast was clear and went back around the house, up the path and back to his car.

He got in and shut the door and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Then he started the engine and headed off towards home, pausing on the way to stop at a toy store to pick up something special...

* * *

By the time he got back, Marv was looking worried.

"You were gone for hours, Harry!" He exclaimed, "I was worried about you! What could take so long that you'd be gone for hours?"

"I was just tying up some loose ends." Harry replied.

Then Marv noticed he was carrying a shopping bag and the logo on it said _TOYS._

"Is that for me?" He wondered excitedly.

"No." Harry told him, "It's for something else. Have you packed, Marv?"

He nodded, and then he looked a little confused.

"You said I have to take warm stuff so I have. But where are we going?"

Harry checked his watch.

"Okay Marv, I want you to take my bags and your bags and go downstairs and wait in the car. _Don't_ get out of the car, just wait for me. I might be about half an hour but I've got a few things to do before I leave."

Marv smiled as he put on his coat.

"Maybe I can help!"

"No, Marvin." Harry said patiently, "Wait in the car, sweet heart. Just do as I say. I need ya to do that for me - it's _important, _it's about the surprise."

On hearing the word _surprise,_ Marv's eyes lit up again.

"Okay Harry!" He said enthusiastically, grabbing their packed up bags, "I'll wait in the car, just like you want me to!"

Harry smiled back at him.

"Great, you go and do that, Marv. I won't be long."

Then as Marv disappeared out the door with the bags, Harry gave a sigh of relief:

_Marv was safely out of the way, now he could carry out his plan..._

He set down the bag from the toy shop and turned to the home security system, chuckling with glee as he opened up the panel and began to press a few buttons...

As he worked the settings, he felt pleased that he, unlike Marv, had found it so easy to embrace new technology – _McCallister just didn't have a clue what was about to happen to him..._

* * *

Marv was waiting nervously in the car.

He sat there, thinking about the bags he'd just put in the trunk, hoping he'd remembered to pack everything right, then he wondered where they were going.

He didn't have a problem with Harry setting up this plan to break Kevin's heart; at first, when he had first mentioned it, Marv had thought it was a little bit cruel. But the more he thought about it, the more he remembered the pain of the nail through his foot, the cuts he'd got from stepping on the Christmas ornaments, the hot iron that hit him square in the face...

But _nothing _compared to the pain of having that little bastard throw bricks at him off the rooftop in New York.

_What kind of a kid threw bricks off a roof anyway? _

_And what kind of a kid was capable of giving him an electric shock that could have killed him?_

He suddenly found his memory drifting back to those dark times back in New York and the pain felt like yesterday.

Then he thought of Harry and how he had suffered. Harry's worst injury had been the burns...

Marv shook his head as he thought of Kevin:

_No – he was no ordinary kid, Harry was right about that and he deserved everything he got now..._

He checked his watch as he sat in the passenger seat.

"Come on!" He said, hating to be alone too long, needing the reassurance of Harry at his side once more.

Then the car door opened and Harry got in.

He glanced at Marv.

"Okay," He said brightly, "Do you wanna know where I'm taking you for Christmas?"

Marv smiled and nodded.

"Of course I do! Tell me!"

Harry smiled.

"Remember the days when we busted out of jail and wound up in New York?"

Marv's smile faded.

"Well...yeah, but that worked out badly..."

Harry reached over and took hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"That was twenty years ago exactly." He told him, "And now you and me are getting on a plane, were going to New York but this time we ain't on the run. This time, sweetheart, we're going as the rich men that we are. And I've booked us into a nice hotel, into the honeymoon suite and you're gonna have the best Christmas you've ever had in your life! This has cost me a _lot _of money and it's going to be worth every cent just to see the look on your face when you realize what a great time you're gonna have!"

Marv thought about it, then he smiled and his eyes lit up.

"Let's go, Harry!" He said excitedly.

"Sure," Harry replied, "We need to get going – we've got a plant to catch in just over an hour's time!"

And Harry started up the car and they drove away, heading for the airport.

* * *

Kevin left the house just before six.

He picked up an old crowbar he found in the garage and put it in his car, laughing as he thought about Marv's cute little rescue scenario.

He had gone to great lengths to make his fantasy come true, he was wearing black but he hadn't bothered with gloves because he wasn't a _real_ burglar...

As he started the car he was still smiling:

_Marv sure had a strange, if romantic imagination..._

Driving along the highway, Kevin thought about his family:

They were all getting ready for a Christmas get together right now; he had explained that he would be picking up his new friend tonight, and then he had left, sneaking out quietly because he didn't want anyone catching him rifling around in the garage for a crowbar.

He thought about walking into that apartment and telling Marv he was there to rescue him.

Kevin felt his heart warm up as he thought about taking Marv in his arms and giving him tender kisses, touching him gently, giving him the kindness that he craved, that he had missed because of all the years he had spent suffering the way Harry had treated him.

"_Things will be different now, Marv."_ He murmured as he drove along, _"I promise you that – I'll make you happy..."_

* * *

Marv had been excited all the way to the airport, he had been even more excited on the plane and when they got off the plane and into a taxi he was still excited.

"I can't believe we're back in New York after all these years!" He exclaimed, then as he settled back in the cab he glanced at Harry and the years that had passed seemed to fall away.

"But it's different now!" He said, "Were not on the run! We're free and we're together and we're rich and-"

He took in a big breath.

"_And this is fun!"_ He yelled, bouncing up and down on the seat.

Harry put his arm around him and gave him a squeeze as he laughed.

"That's what I wanted to see, Marv."

Marv looked at him.

"What, Harry?"

"Your eyes lighting up." Harry said softly, "You don't know how much it means to me to see you this happy!"

And then Marv looked out of the window as the lights of the city went speeding by.

When they got out of the taxi Harry paid for the cab and waited for their bags.

Marv looked up at the grand hotel in wonder.

"It looks like a palace!" He exclaimed.

Harry glanced at him and that soft look was back in his eyes again; this vacation wasn't an excuse to indulge in any of his usual games, this was all about Marv and showing him how much he loved him...

"If you think it's a palace then it is." Harry said softly, "It's a palace and I'm your prince, Marvin. Come on, let's go and check in – I've got a big surprise for you."

Marv stood back while Harry checked them in and their bags were taken to their room.

Then Harry lingered at the desk and spoke to a member of the hotel staff, who indicated to a door at the side of the lobby.

"Thanks" He said warmly, and then he tipped the guy generously and turned back to Marv.

"Come on Marv," He said, linking arms with him,"You'd better come with me – there's not much time!"

"What for?" Marv asked as he looked down at him.

"It's Christmas Eve." Harry reminded him, "Just come with me, honey..."

And Harry led Marv through the door and down a corridor, then they stepped outside into the vast garden at the back of the hotel.

Marv was staring in surprise at the colorful lights that adorned the trees, a group of elves were singing _Deck the halls with Boughs of Holly_, and most amazingly of all, there was Santa Claus, standing beside his sleigh and the sleigh was hitched up to the reindeer, real reindeer, just like he had seen at the toy store...

Marv's breath made an icy cloud as he spoke.

_"Wow!"_ He exclaimed, looking at the snowy magical scene.

Harry just stood back with his hands in his pockets and watched as Santa said _Hi_ to Marv.

"Hi." Marv said, "I'm Marv."

Santa smiled at him, pausing to give Harry a wink; _he knew what to do.._.

"I can't stop long." Santa told him, "But Harry asked me if I could visit you today. It IS my busiest day of the year but he told me you really deserve a special Christmas so I said that was okay."

Then he climbed up onto his sleigh.

"Would you like to sit on my sleigh?" He asked him.

Marv's eyes lit up like an excited child.

"Oh yes please Santa!" He exclaimed, and as Harry took out his phone and switched into camera, he blinked back tears: _Nothing in his life had ever felt as good as this, seeing that look of pure joy on Marv's face..._

Marv climbed into the sleigh and sat beside Santa.

He glanced in the back at the big sack full of presents.

"So are those all the presents for the good kids?" He wondered.

The man dressed as Santa nodded.

"And I have a lot of places to visit before morning." He reminded him,"Then I have to go all the way home to the North Pole."

"Is it cold in the North Pole?" Marv wondered, and from where he stood with the camera, Harry smiled.

"Sure it is." Santa replied," It snows all year round! But I have the elves to keep me company."

As Marv talked to Santa, Harry stepped away, towards the woman in charge of the choir.

"Why have the kids stopped singing?" He whispered.

"You said ten minutes...and it's _cold!_" She reminded him.

Harry pulled a wad of notes from his pocket.

She stared at the money as he pressed it into her hand; there was at least three hundred dollars there...

"I think the elves can handle another five minutes?"

"I think they certainly can!" She replied.

She turned back to the children.

"One more song..." She instructed them, and they began to sing again.

Marv had barely noticed; he was too fascinated to _actually_ be meeting Santa Claus...

"I was good when I was a boy." He told him, "But you never came to my house."

Santa smiled kindly.

"Well I'm sorry about that, Marv. I think I've made up for it now. Harry tells me you always get a present from me every year these days."

Marv's eyes lit up again.

"Yes I do!" He told him, "Have...have I got a present this year?"

Santa laughed.

"I've certainly made sure of that and so has Harry." He promised him, "You're going to have a wonderful Christmas, Marv!"

And Marv turned to Harry with his eyes shining with excitement.

"Did you hear that, Harry?"

"Sure I did, Marv." Harry said warmly.

Then Santa checked his watch.

"It's been nice meeting you." He told him, "But I have to get ready to go now. I have a busy night ahead of me."

Marv's eyes were still shining with excitement as an idea came to him.

"Can I please ride in your sleigh? I could help you deliver presents! I'd _love_ to do that!"

"Um...well I'm not allowed to bring anyone with me." Santa said quickly, "And you can't watch my reindeer take off, either. They like to be all alone with me or they get nervous and then they can't fly. But if you look out your window later on tonight, you _might_ see me cross the sky!"

"Okay." Marv promised him, "I'll do that, I'll watch out the window!"

"It was nice to meet you Marv." Santa said as Marv climbed down from the sleigh.

Marv smiled back at Santa.

"It was nice to meet you too," He said with wonder in his eyes, "Thank you for letting me sit in the sleigh."

And as Harry watched him, he blinked back more tears. He had never wanted to hug him more than he did right now, but there would be plenty of time for hugs and much more too – later on, when they got back to their room.

He checked his watch and realized it was almost seven o'clock. He knew what was coming next and he didn't want that moment to come right now and spoil the magic for Marv.

"Come on, "He said, taking hold of Marv's hand, "Santa's got to go to work now."

And as he led him back towards the door, Marv turned back and waved and Santa waved back at him.

Then he waved to the singing choir.

"Bye elves." He said, and the kids waved back at him too.

Then Harry led Marv back into the hotel, up the corridor and back into the lobby once more.

Now they were back in the warm again, Marv had the biggest smile on his face and such a sparkle in his eyes that Harry was sure hiring the Santa and the elves had been worth every cent.

_"Wow."_ He said again, _"I met Santa!"_

"You sure did Marv!" Harry said as he looked up at him," Was that great?"

"Oh yeah that was the best surprise _ever!_" Marv exclaimed.

Harry led him over to the elevator.

"Come on, "He said, "Lets go upstairs, wait till you see our room –you'll _love_ it!"

_"I love you."_ Marv said softly as the doors slid shut.

They were the only two people in the elevator and Harry turned to Marv and gazed up at him.

_"I love you too, Marv."_ He said softly, and his grip on his hand tightened.

* * *

When they reached the hotel room, Harry unlocked the door and led the way in.

Marv stood in the luxurious suite and looked around with wide eyes.

"This is beautiful!" He exclaimed, looking at the plush seating area and the glowing fire and then seeing though the open door into the bedroom beyond, where he caught sight of a romantic four poster bed.

Harry closed the door and locked it. He picked up a menu for room service and opened it up.

"You wanted nice food - you can have anything on the menu. I'll have 'em bring it up to us."

Then he put the menu down and closed the bedroom door and looked back at Marv with a sparkle in his eyes.

"I don't want you going in there yet, Marv – there's a surprise waiting in there for ya!"

Marv took off his coat and draped it over the back of a chair and sat down on a soft couch by the warm fire.

"Okay." He said excitedly.

Harry took off his coat too and then his hat and placed them on top of Marv's winter coat and then sat down beside him.

"Merry Christmas, honey." He said, and gave him a kiss.

"Thank you Harry." Marv said as he met his gaze,"Thank you for all the nice surprises."

Harry chuckled as he checked the time again.

"My surprise – the big Christmas gift for _me_ is about to happen any minute now." He told him.

Mar frowned.

"I don't get it."

"I know you don't." Harry told him, "And I did it like that for a reason – I wanted to keep the bad stuff away from you. It doesn't matter now, it's over –McCallister's screwed!"

Marv's eyes widened." What's happened? I know he's going over to the apartment, but we're not there, he'll know it wasn't true – or he'll think I changed my mind about him..."

Harry shook his head.

"No Marv, there's _a lot_ more. I've set him up for something big. _It's payback time_. Believe me, that little bundle of misery will be regretting the day he ever crossed us and he'll be regretting it soon – for a _very_ long time!"

As a wicked gleam came to Harry's eyes, Marv's eyes shone too.

"What have you done Harry?" he said, longing to know more.

Harry checked his watch.

"I have to wait a few more minutes." He told him, "And so do you. Then I'll explain _everything_, I promise."

Marv gave a sigh.

"Oh come on, Harry! Just _tell _me now, I want to know!

Harry chuckled.

"No, Marv! I want to wait; the surprise will be worth it, just hold on a few more minutes..."

"A few more minutes?" Marv wondered with a look in his eyes that said he _definitely_ wanted to know everything now, because he had a feeling this was going to be good.

"Just a few more minutes, Marv." Harry promised him, _"And all will be revealed..."_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kevin pulled up outside the apartment block and smiled as he looked up to the top floor; it was almost seven pm and he knew Marv was waiting for him.

He got out of his car and paused to slip the crowbar in his jacket, then he took the toy bird in the cage from the back seat, looked at the way the stuffed canary bobbed up and down on the perch and smiled as he shook his head:

_Marv sure was a little strange, but he loved him for it..._

Then Kevin thought about the front entrance:

_No, he would sneak around the back, wait for a car to go into the garage and slip in, then he could take the elevator up that way..._

Kevin made his way around to the bushes, laughing as he thought about how surprised Marv would be that he had actually thought to sneak up like this instead of buzzing the main door...

He guessed no one would have thought twice about letting him in anyway, not with a toy bird in a cage that he'd tied with a bow and added a big gift tag that said _Merry Christmas_ with lots of big kisses all over it...

As a car went in, so did Kevin, ducking down as he ran, just as the door began to lower once more.

Then he walked over to the elevator as if he had nothing to hide, like he was just a regular visitor who had just got out of his car...

The crowbar was heavy beneath his thick winter coat and he was suddenly very aware of its presence.

He wondered as he waited for the elevator, how had Marv felt, carrying one of these things around back in the days when he'd been stealing around, breaking into places for real?

This was only a game, but back then it had all been very real and dangerous for Marv.

_How had he coped with it?_

The answer came to him at once in a single word, condensed into a single name:_ Harry._

Of course, Marv never would have gone into that way of life, running the risk of arrest and jail, not unless Harry Lyme had led him there...

But it didn't matter now, Kevin thought with a smile - _soon Marv would be in his arms and then the two of them would be out of here together, starting a new life, a better life, a life where Marv would be happy..._

The elevator doors slid open and Kevin stepped inside.

He set the birdcage on the floor as the doors slid shut and he hit the top button.

He was still smiling as the elevator started to climb; Today was the day that would change his life forever, he knew it, he could feel it! Marv was his future; he was the one who he would stay with forever. Theirs wouldn't be a five minute relationship that faded after a few months, this one would work, this would be the forever one that he had been waiting for – that they had both been waiting for.

He thought about all the nights he had spent talking for hours to Marv. He had talked with him for so long, about everything and anything and now he felt sure he had never known another person as well as he knew Marv.

He had been doubtful that people could fall in love over the web, but after recognizing how he felt for Marv after their first conversation, and after meeting him in real life, he had known from the start: He was in love with this guy...

His heart as beating faster as the doors slid open.

Kevin stepped out of the elevator and looked down the hall towards Marv's apartment. This was it, no turning back:

_This was the moment he walked in there and finally took Marv in his arms and then they'd be leaving here together, forever..._

Kevin began to walk towards the door of Marv's apartment, smiling as he noticed it was slightly ajar...

* * *

Marv was warm beside the fire in their luxury honeymoon suite at their New York Hotel.

He leaned closer to Harry, smiling as he saw the way his eyes were shining.

"So what's happening, Harry?"

As Harry reached over and brushed a curly lock of hair from Marv's shoulder, he looked at him with love in his eyes.

"I didn't just do this for me." He confessed, "I did it for _you_, Marv. I wanted McCallister to pay for all the misery he caused you, in some ways, I wanted to get him back for that more than for all the stuff he did to me. I could take it. Sure, it wasn't easy to deal with the burns and the rest of it – but I saw what you went through – not only because of his traps, but I saw what you went through being locked away in jail and that hurt me most of all."

"So now he's gonna realize I'm not there to meet him and he's gonna cry over it!" Marv exclaimed.

"That too, Marv." Harry told him, "But there's more. He's gonna realize he never spoke to you once on line – it was me, he thought he was falling in love with you but all the time, I was behind the keyboard sending the messages..."

And then the sparkle in his eyes darkened.

"He'll have a long time to think about nothing else after tonight..."

Marv was looking at him eagerly.

"What _else _is there, Harry? _Oh I wanna know!"_

And Harry laughed as he checked his watch.

"Just a few more minutes, Marv – then you'll get a wonderful surprise..."

But Marv wouldn't give up.

He gave Harry's hand a squeeze as he looked into his eyes.

Please, Harry – just _tell _me!"

Harry gave a sigh as the look in his eyes softened to deepest love.

"Okay Marv, I'll tell ya..._this is what I've done_..."

And as he explained and Marv's eyes grew wider, Marv took in every word he said with a _big_ smile on his face...

* * *

While Harry was in his warm, luxurious honeymoon suite hotel room with Marv and explaining his plan, Kevin was just about to discover the truth for himself.

He walked slowly towards the door of the apartment, noticing through the crack in the door it all looked dark within.

Kevin smiled as he thought about Marv waiting for him.

_Where would he be? In the bedroom?_

His heart was still pounding as he walked up to the door and paused, pushing the door a fraction.

"Marv?" He called softly.

There was no reply.

Kevin laughed and shook his head; this guy was taking the rescue thing all the way...he wanted him to come in there and find him and play out his romantic scenario...

"_Okay Marv,"_ He said in a low voice, _"Let's do this..."_

He pushed open the door and turned around, carefully pushing it shut. The door closed with a _click _and then he looked around again: no lights were on, the only light that was flashing was a small red one on the burglar alarm, but he could hear no sound so he guessed that had to be something to do with the door being left open like that...

Kevin walked slowly and quietly up the hall, birdcage in one hand and crowbar in the other.

"Marv!" He called softly again, "I'm here...where _are_ you?"

Then he could say no more as his feet left the ground as if he'd slipped on ice.

Kevin gave a cry of alarm as he was thrown backwards, landing painfully on the floor, on his back as the crowbar clattered to the ground and the birdcage hit the wall and landed on the carpet with a soft thump.

For a moment he just lay there stunned, wondering what the hell he had slipped on.

Then he pulled himself up right, reaching about in the gloom...

As his hand closed over small objects that had been scattered about the floor s heart began to und harder...

_Toy cars?_

_What the hell was this?_

"Marv?" He called out in alarm, "That's _not_ funny! I told you I was sorry about what I did! What's going on?"

And then as he made his way down the hall towards Marv's bedroom, he saw that it was empty.

It hit him like a ton of bricks had just been dropped on him from a great height - or thrown at him from a roof top one by one by a kid who didn't understand the word _'consequences'_ :

_Marv had set him up._

Kevin gave a sob.

"_No..."_ He said tearfully, _"No! Don't you do this to me, Marv! You said you loved - "_

As he stepped forward to enter the room, his words were choked off in mid sentance as his face hit some clear, sticky film that he had not seen set across the door.

He peeled it off his face and spat out a vile taste: _Glue?_

As the word ran through his mind, he stared at the ripped open pillow case full of feathers. A fan had just started to turn.

Then it blew at full force, coating his head and shoulders in duck feathers_._

Kevin staggered back and coughed, trying to brush the feathers off his face.

He pulled at the feathers, clearing his vision as he looked around and saw the bathroom door wide open.

Kevin ran in and reached for the taps, desperate to run the water and grab the soap and try and get this glue off before it dried.

But as the shock hit him, searing up his arms and shaking his bones, he couldn't let go of the taps as the electric shock ran through his body.

It seemed to carry on forever but then the current stopped and Kevin fell hard to the floor, shaking and groaning in pain.

That shock hadn't been enough to kill him but it was certainly enough to hurt him, to give him a taste of his own spiteful prank so long ago...

"_Marv..."_ He gasped as he crawled towards the door and then pulled himself to his feet, _"Why did you do this to me?"_

Kevin only had one thought in his mind now and that thought was enough to cancel out all his pain at the knowledge that Marv had never loved him, that this had all been a set up... sure, he'd cry over it later but something else was uppermost on his mind and he knew he had to act on it:

_He had to get the hell out of here before he walked into more of their traps..._

He thought back to his own devices that he'd rigged so long ago and he caught his breath as his gaze shifted left and right in the gloom:

_What was coming next? _

_Was there a big hole in the floor?_

_Was he about to get hit by a nail gun?_

_Were there any more of those toy cars on the floor?_

_Or was there a trip wire?_

"Oh shit!" Kevin said aloud, knowing he had been trapped, not only that but trapped well, by two guys who he had misjudged...Marv had been playing along right from the start and Harry was in on it too.

Kevin thought about the irony of it:

_Those guys had lured him here using love as bait, love, the biggest trap of all and now he was caught..._

"I've been so _stupid!_" Kevin said angrily.

The feathers were tightening up on his face as the glue began to dry and he turned around and headed for the other bathroom, this door was also ajar and he took no chances, kicking it wide open.

Then he stood there in the doorway itching his face as the glue continued to dry, scanning the room for traps, but saw none.

Kevin stepped forward, his foot sunk into the board as he heard a _crack. _

He caught his breath as he sank through the hole up to his waist, reaching out for the rope in front of him.

At a time like that, he didn't know why there was a rope but he didn't care or have time to think - _was he about to fall through to the next floor?_

_Then he heard the rope start to run._

He looked up and yelled out, ducking down but too late as a bag of concrete crashed down, hitting the floor beside him and showering him in choking dust.

Kevin kept his head down and held his breath as he scrambled out from the broken floor, crawling away from the cement cloud.

Then he stayed on his hands and knees coughing, gasping for air as he crawled again, making for the open door, heading back into the hallway.

On the way out of the bathroom he reached up, grabbed a towel and wiped his face, but he still couldn't shift most of the glue and the feathers even if it had wiped off some of the cement –_at_ _least he could see a little better now..._

He got back to his feet and ran through the front room, getting as far away as he could from the cement cloud that had drifted out and was still settling.

Now he was in the front room he took a deep breath.

_Then he looked around the room and what he saw beside the sofa gave him a jolt:_

The panda had been moved. Behind that big panda was an oil painting, which had been taken off the wall and placed on the couch.

And behind that space on the wall where the painting had once hung, there was a safe.

_The safe was wide open._

_Money was scattered all around the room._

Kevin caught his breath as he turned to run.

He knew what this was about now...those bastards were framing him, setting him up for _burglary?_

Now he had only one thought in his mind: _he had to get the hell out of here, he had to get out right now..._

* * *

Kevin ran down the hallway.

He forgot the toy cars and was instantly off his feet again as he was flipped in the air and then landed on his back with a painful thud.

He pulled himself to his feet and stepped over the rest of the cars, then he made it to the front door.

He paused for a moment, gasping for breath, aching from the falls, itching from the glue and feathers and stinging from the cement. The electric shock was still making him shake but he didn't care- he was out of here now...

Kevin grabbed the door knob.

_It wouldn't turn._

He grabbed it with both hands, tugging hard.

As it flew off and came out of its fixing he went backwards, slipped on a stray toy car and crashed back onto the floor again, prising one hand free of the broken door knob as he tried in vain to get his other hand free of it, but it was stuck fast – _more_ glue?

Then the hallway was filled with the sound of a squealing burglar alarm.

Kevin jumped up, his heart hammering in his chest as that alarm squealed on and on.

He tried to turn it off but didn't know the code.

After trying a few random numbers, he gave it a whack with his crow bar- but still that alarm was screaming.

Then he heard someone shout _Security!_ And the door was burst open and Kevin McCallister just stood there, covered in glue and cement and feathers with a crowbar in his hand while two armed security guards yelled at him to get down on the floor, while they kept their weapons trained right at him...

"I'm _not _a burglar!" Kevin yelled as he dropped the crowbar, "This was a set up!"

"_Tell it to the cops, they're on their way!"_ One of the guards told him as Kevin dropped to his knees and gave a sob.

* * *

Marv's eyes were shining with joy as he heard Harry's plan unfold.

"So you rigged the place up with traps to get him like he got us?" Marv exclaimed.

"Well yeah – but I didn't mess around with blow torches. I didn't wanna cause a fire!" Harry told him.

They both laughed at the thought of McCallister being on the receiving end of his own game.

"I get it now, Harry." Marv said to him, "I know why you didn't want me to worry – and you didn't want me knowing anything until it was over."

"I didn't want ya to know I broke into McCallister's house, either!"

Marv stared at him.

"You went back to _that_ place?"

Harry smiled as he saw the flicker of fear in Marv's eyes; that place still reminded him of painful memories, but Harry had pushed it aside to get the job done. But one look at Marv had confirmed it: _Yes, he had been totally right to keep him out of it, not only for the risk factor, but because memories of that place still burned bright for Marv, and still had the power to scare him..._

"I had to." Harry told him, "I had to wipe off his records of any conversations with your profile. When the cops take a look at his lap top – and they will because he's going to insist he's been set up – they'll get a _big_ surprise. I wiped everything off it; I did it to make him look like a liar. _And _I left a little note, too!"

Marv suddenly felt alarmed on hearing that.

"But if you left a note they'll know it was you!"

Harry chuckled.

"No, Marv! I didn't sign it _Harry Lyme!_ I pretended to be Kevin, so it looks like he left a note on his laptop for his parents to find in case he ever got caught. He apologized for the stuff he's been up to, he said he's been house breaking for several years and he knows it's only a matter of time before he gets caught some day - so the notes there to apologize to his parents. _It's also a great confession on his part for the cops to see_. Do ya get it now, Marv?"

Marv smiled and nodded his head.

"That is pure genius, Harry!" He exclaimed.

"I know!" Harry replied, leaning forward and kissing him.

Then he pulled back as the phone rang.

"That'll be the cops." He said, "Don't worry about a thing, Marvin – you know nothing. You don't even _know _a guy named Kevin McCallister, have ya got that?"

Marv smiled and nodded again.

Harry picked the phone up.

"Hi there, Harry Lyme speaking..."

He paused, putting on a show of surprise at once.

"What did you say officer? Some guy broke into our apartment tonight? Thank God you caught him in time! I hope there wasn't any damage..."

And he listened as Marv grabbed a cushion from the couch and laughed into it, trying as hard as he could to keep the noise down.

"What's that?" Harry said to the cops, "He's insisting we _know_ him, that there's been a mistake? I don't know..._McCallister... McCallister_...put him on the phone for two seconds, let me hear his voice..."

And as he said that, Marv laughed again as he saw the darkly playful spark in Harry's eyes.

"_Please!"_ Kevin sobbed down the phone_," You set me up, tell them anything...tell them it was a sick joke!"_

Harry paused.

His eyes turned to ice as he gripped the phone harder and spoke in a low voice.

"_They don't call me Master Harry for nothing, you little shit!"_ He snapped, "You won't get out of this one, McCallister. Ya know that bird in the cage I told ya to buy – that's for you – take a look at it, all locked up... that's gonna be you for a long time, kid! You underestimated me. That is a _big _mistake for anyone to make, because I _always _win in the end."

Kevin gave another sob.

"Please don't let them take me to jail, Harry...put Marv on the phone...he _know_s me!"

"No he doesn't, honey." Harry said to him, _"He only met ya twice and that made him wanna puke. Guess who you were really speaking to online night after night? That's right, it was ME!"_

He heard Kevin give a gasp and then he sobbed again and Harry laughed darkly.

"Oh Kevin," He said sweetly, "One more thing..."

"What?" Kevin said tearfully, hoping Harry might pity him and offer him some kind of a lifeline.

Harry chuckled.

"_Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!"_ He snapped, then as Marv grabbed the cushion and pressed his face against it to stifle his own laughter, Harry's tone became serious again as he spoke to the cop.

"No officer...I _don't _know the guy. I'm just thankful you got there when you did. I hope ya lock him up and throw away the key!"

And as the conversation ended and Harry put the phone down, Harry and Marv looked at each other with their eyes shining.

"_Merry Christmas honey!"_ Harry said victoriously, and threw his arms around Marv and gave him a great big kiss.

* * *

A while later, after Kevin's shocked parents handed over the laptop to the cops because Kevin insisted it would prove his innocence, all the cops found was a confession addressed to his parents – a confession about how Kevin McCallister had been secretly housebreaking for several years...

By then Kevin was already charged and sitting in a cell with his head in his hands, sobbing over what had happened.

He tried to think about the situation and spot a time when he could have seen though their scam...but it had been so convincing...it had been convincing because he had _wanted_ to believe it.

And now he was locked up, because of Harry and Marv, two guys who he never should have messed with, and he was sure the word _consequences_ had never been more relevant in his life than it was right now:

_Consequences..._

If only he'd thought about _that_ when he was much younger, then none of this would have happened and he wouldn't have wound up in jail...

But it was too late now and that word was still turning around and around in his mind:

_Consequences..._

* * *

It was getting late and Harry and Marv had spent their evening celebrating Kevin's arrest by drinking a bottle of champagne; Harry had been feeling so happy over his victory he had been only too glad to let Marv open the bottle – until the cork had shot out and punched a small hole in the ceiling of the honeymoon suite.

Harry had brushed away the plaster and laughed.

_"Don't worry Marv!"_ He'd said as he looked at the small hole in the ceiling, _"They'll never know...unless they look up!"_

Then they had shared the champagne, Harry drinking first and then holding the bottle out to Marv, playfully teasing him as he pulled it away again at the last minute, but then he let him have it anyway.

They drank half the bottle between them and no more because Harry put it down on the table and handed Marv the small box that he'd been hiding behind the couch.

Marv recognised it at once and grabbed it excitedly, pulling off the tape and opening it up.

"You bought this in the antiques store for me!" He exclaimed, sliding open the lid and lifting the packaging away.

Harry watched as he stared at it, then Marv reached in and pulled out the small but heavy Victorian piece; it was mounted on a small base and on that base two robbers stood close together, one had his arm around the other and their crowbars were raised and touching.

"They're doing _Crowbars Up!"_ Marv exclaimed.

Harry's voice was soft as he spoke in reply

"There's more. Turn it around slightly and look again."

Marv turned it around, then he got it, he got it right away and he smiled.

"_Their crowbars together make the shape of a heart."_

"Exactly." Harry replied, and he kissed his cheek.

"Thanks Harry, it's great!" Marv told him, carefully putting it down on the table.

Then Harry got up and held his hand out to Marv.

"Come on," He told him,"I've got something else for you in the bedroom."

Marv got up and took hold of Harry's hand as he led him over to the closed bedroom door.

"Shut your eyes Marv." Harry told him.

As Marv screwed his eyes tightly shut Harry smiled as he opened the bedroom door; he knew Marv was going to love this, it was the biggest surprise of all.

"I'm not peeking!" Marv promised him.

"I know you're not. Just come with me, keep your eyes shut, I won't let ya bump into anything, Marv."

And Harry led Marv over to the bed and told him to sit down.

"Don't look yet." He said, putting his hands over his eyes.

Then he laughed, thinking about how different Kevin McCallister's Christmas would be this year- his Christmases would all be spent in jail for a long time to come, and for Harry Lyme, _that_ was the best present of all.

Well, _almost_ the best present.

_The very best present he could ever wish for was about to happen when he took his hands off Marv's eyes and told him he could look at his surprise..._

"Ready?" Harry asked him.

"Sure I am!" Marv said excitedly.

"Okay...Three, two, one. _Now _ya can look!"

Harry took his hands off Marv's eyes.

Marv stared in amazement at the big, glittering Christmas tree in the corner of the room.

Around it there were so many presents piled up and wrapped in shiny paper that he couldn't count them all.

"Are...are these _our _gifts?" Marv said in wonder.

Harry smiled and his gold tooth sparkled.

"No Marv." He told him warmly, "They're all for _you!_"

"Oh Harry!" He said, hugging him and kissing his cheek, _"Thank you!"_

Then he jumped up from the bed and Harry laughed as he watched Marv dive into the mountain of brightly wrapped parcels.

Marv was laughing and his eyes were sparkling as he started to rip off the wrapping paper.

"This is the best Christmas ever!" He exclaimed and as Harry saw the joy that shone in his eyes, he smiled back at him, thinking of McCallister in jail and remembering that him and Marv would _never_ be going back to prison, this was their life now, and it was a good one.

And he'd been right about the look in Marv's eyes. Seeing so much joy in his eyes had made him feel like the best gift he could ever have was truly seeing the one he loved so very happy.

Marv was laughing as he unwrapped the first of his many gifts.

"_I love you Harry!"_ He said, and those words went right into Harry's heart.

"It is, "Marv was saying again, "It's the best Christmas _ever!_"

Harry's eyes sparkled with joy as he looked back at Marv.

"It sure is, Marv!" He said fondly, "It IS the best Christmas ever. Merry Christmas, sweetheart."

The End.


End file.
